› added 12 years ago

88

TIL that Ayn Rand spent the last 6 years of her life on Social Security and Medicare, after a lifetime of condemning both programs.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

g6l9 TIL that the old McDonald’s coffee spoon was discontinued because it was used widely for drug measurement and intranasal delivery.
JE74 TIL there is controversy about scientists naming a protein “sonic hedgehog”. A mutation in this protein can cause serious birth defects and many scientists/clinicians dislike the idea of telling parents their child has “a mutation in their sonic hedgehog”
oBVDr TIL about Polyphonic Singing (ie, singing two or more different notes at the same time)
GYj5N TIL Kurt Knispel (served Nazi Germany during WW2), the highest scoring tank ace of WW2 with 168 confirmed tank kills was never awarded the coveted Knight's Cross because he assaulted higher officers for mistreating POWs and let others take credit for his kills among other things.
MK10 TIL the US Democratic party’s symbol is a donkey because during the 1828 Presidential election, Democrat Andrew Jackson’s opponents referred to him as a “jackass”. Jackson liked the name and used the jackass as a symbol.