› added 2 months ago

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TIL that Betty Crocker, the supposed author of the #1 best-selling cookbook of all time "Betty Crocker's Cookbook", is not a real person and is in fact a mascot created by General Mills.

N7yYQ TIL the Spartan Pausanias was accused of treason for conspiring with the Persians, but seeked refuge in a temple so he couldn't be tried and executed while inside. His mother went to the temple to lay the first brick at the door, which was sealed until he died of starvation
LQlJd TIL there could have been volcanic activity on the moon during the time of the dinosaurs. The large dark patches on the lunar surface that give shape to the moon’s “face” are called maria, and they’re thought to be the remains of volcanic activity on the moon that started 3.5 billion years ago.
OGxER TIL that in 1981, the magazine Locus butchered the title of Gene Wolfe's next novel "The Citadel of the Autarch" and announced that it would be titled "The Castle of the Otter". Wolfe found the mistake so funny he actually published a book titled "The Castle of the Otter" the following year.
l7p1B TIL Shortly after the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 Two Southern Senators (Yarborough D-TX and Thurmond D-SC) wrestled each other outside the hearing room of the Commerce Committee of the U.S. Congress.
grQ4X TIL of Alvin Straight, a man who traveled 240 miles on his John Deere to visit his dying brother. The story inspired David Lynch's film adaptation titled The Straight Story.