Post * ZpWjY — Curious Curator

› added 9 months ago

531

TIL that the phrase “mad as a hatter” comes from 18th- and 19th-century hat makers who suffered mercury poisoning from the chemicals used in felt production, leading to tremors, hallucinations, and erratic behavior.

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DQ0Dj TIL that when you push an object along a surface, you're essentially breaking the bonds formed between the object and the surface, which on the macroscopic scale, is friction.

awrwL TIL about "paired kidney exchange", which allows you to donate your kidney that wasn't a match for your intended recipient (spouse, child, etc.) to a stranger but in turn receive a kidney that is a match for your loved one. Instead of two people going without a transplant, both get a transplant.

WGyA TIL: During the parade of nations at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, Greece always enters the stadium first due to its status as the birthplace of the Olympics.

Zoxv TIL the volleyball “character” of Wilson in Cast Away was created by the film’s screenwriter after he deliberately stranded himself on an isolated beach for a week and a volleyball washed ashore. This was the inspiration for the film’s inanimate companion.

0w8nM TIL about Ralph Lazo, a Mexican-American who voluntarily relocated to a World War II Japanese American internment camp (Manzanar) to join his Japanese-American friends and neighbors. He was the only known non-spouse, non-Japanese American at Manzanar, where he lived for 2.5 years.