Post * YjJZ — Curious Curator

› added 9 years ago

92

TIL There’s a book that contains a million random numbers and little else. Published in 1955, it was an important work in the field of statistics and randomization.

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0dWBp TIL seven kings have ruled Belgium since the splitting from The Netherlands in 1831. The first six kings married women from other countries. Current King Phillipe is the first to marry a native born Belgian. Queen Mathilde has multiple degrees and speaks six languages.

9wPy6 TIL that until 2012, when they switched to a bacterial source, Roche Pharmaceuticals used up to 90% of the world's annual star anise crop to produce shikimic acid, a chemical intermediate used in the synthesis of oseltamivir (Tamiflu)

lo6na TIL that Georg Ferdinand Duckwitz, a German diplomat, served as an attache for Nazi Germany in occupied Denmark. He tipped off the Danes about the Germans' plan to deport the Jewish population in 1943 and arranged for their reception in Sweden, rescuing over 95% of Denmark's Jewish population.

9YxbQ TIL: Project Gutenberg, the world's largest digital library of over 57,000 free public domain ebooks. Contains wide variety of the most historically important literary works.

0wXVA TIL that Popeye wasn't the main character of the comic strip he first appeared in. He was hired by Castor Oyl, the strip's protagonist, to steal money from a casino, but was later hunted down and shot by a hitman hired by the casino's owner. He lived, and was so popular he got his own strip.