› added 8 years ago

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TIL that Sir Ian McKellen and Stephen Fry saved a Southampton pub called "The Hobbit" from having to change its name after being threatened with legal action based on the accusations that the pub was committing copyright infringement.

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jk8j TIL Margaret Thatcher was reportedly more proud of becoming the first Prime Minister with a science degree than the first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
gMdJW TIL gas lines are reverse threaded so that they cannot be linked to other lines such as water, air, and ventilation and this is also done to keep kids from easily disconnecting them.
ANAKx TIL In 1906 Andrew Carnegie formed the Simplified Spelling Board to fix spelling in the English language. Teddy Roosevent was ready to impose their recommendations but he and Carnegie disagreed on how to get the public to adopt. So we're still stuck with that "d" and "e" in Wednesday.
89eK TIL: The inventors of Hot Wheels and Barbie were married. Ruth and Elliot Handler co-founded Mattel and also had children named Barbara and Kenneth.
Nr56 TIL that when our sun becomes a red giant, Saturn’s moon Titan will become warm enough for life to possibly evolve in manner similar to Earth. These conditions would persist for a hundred million years