› added 7 years ago

241

TIL in 1961, Fidel Castro closed Cuban schools for a whole year and formed teachers into a “literacy army” with the goal to eradicate illiteracy. By the end of the year, 707,212 previously illiterate people had learned how to read.

Read more lasa.international.pitt.edu

via ift.tt

9YVjX TIL that among starfish that can regenerate their entire body from a single arm, some can do so from just 1cm (0.4in) long and in some species of starfish, a large female can split in half, each half becoming male which changes back into female once they grow big enough.
ADRe4 TIL the oldest wooden church in the world and the oldest wooden building in Europe is St. Andrew's in Greensted, Essex, England
6Va7 TIL that students with the highest GPAs score lowest on measures of creativity and independence, and highest on measures of punctuality, delay of gratification, predictability and dependability.
0g9y TIL Thelma Schoonmaker, Martin Scorsese’s editor for the last 44 years, doesn’t read the script before she edits one of Martin Scorsese’s movies. This is done so she will have “a cold and objective point of view.” She has edited every one of Scorsese’s movies since “Raging Bull.” (item #23)
WOMB TIL the Tampa Bay Lightning (NHL team) installed two Tesla coils in its stadium in 2011, just so they could shoot lightning whenever they scored a goal.