› added 6 years ago

60

TIL In Greek mythology, Talos was a giant automaton made of bronze to protect Europa in Crete from pirates and invaders. He circled the island's shores three times daily. (One of the earliest known interpretations of artificially made beings in literatures)

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

neoNG TIL Benedict Cumberbatch, who plays Sherlock Holmes on "Sherlock," is distantly related to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who created the character.
VM6KZ TIL that Everett Lee, born August 31, 1916, is an American conductor & violinist who was the first African American to conduct a Broadway musical & the first to conduct a performance by a major American opera company. He's still alive at 103.
wBY6 TIL of American military officer Roddie Edmonds, whose unit was captured during WW2. When asked by his Nazi captors to identify the Jewish soldiers under his command, Edmonds replied, “We are all Jews here.” He saved as many as 200 Jewish-American soldiers from execution.
OG9yL TIL that the Filet-O-Fish was invented by Lou Groen in a predominantly Catholic neighborhood due to the practice of abstaining from meat on Fridays. His Filet-O-Fish and Ray Kroc’s “Hula Burger” (pineapple with cheese on a bun) competed for sales every Friday and Groen’s creation “won hands down.”
e91g TIL Pat Summit, former University of Tennessee Women’s Basketball Coach, had a student-athlete graduation rate of 100%. She coached for 38 years and is credited by many for helping put Women’s basketball on the map.