› added 1 year ago

41

TIL Francis Bacon died of pneumonia he got after stuffing a fowl with snow to prove that the meat can be preserved frozen.

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e0A0E TIL that the English chess term "checkmate" is derived from the Persian phrase "shah mat", which means "the king is dead".
l0n5 TIL Airline pilots deliberately touch down hard on the runway when it’s raining, to minimize aquaplaning.
yQQQv TIL that Mexican Racing driver Pedro Rodríguez always traveled with a Mexican flag and a record of the national anthem, because when he won the 1967 South African GP the organizers did not have the Mexican anthem, and instead played the Mexican hat dance.
x8lg TIL there exists a condition that is the opposite of paranoia. Pronoia is the delusion that a massive conspiracy exists to aid you.
VMX1m TIL fake Xmas trees have to be used for 20 years to be more environmentally friendly than using real trees