› added 11 years ago

85

TIL that “jiggawatt” is an obscure but acceptable pronunciation for “gigawatt”, which makes its use in the movie “Back to the Future” legitimate. Producer Bob Gale said he had thought it was pronounced this way because this was how a scientific advisor on the film pronounced it.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

xryk TIL that wolves in the wild do not have “alpha males” or “alpha females” with subordinate “betas” or “gammas”. Wolf packs are a family with the offspring of previous years.
j687M TIL that employers prefer not to hire or promote short employees and that they do not adequately compensate them. According to various studies, controlling for other variables, every inch of height is worth hundreds of dollars in annual income.
0w4WN TIL that in 1914 Capt Campbell, a British POW held in Germany, asked permission from Kaiser Wilhelm II to visit his dying mother in England. The Kaiser agreed, on the condition that Campbell return to the camp, which he did - and remained there until the war ended in 1918.
v1BMD TIL that Queen Elizabeth of United Kingdom (then princess), joined the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) as a mechanic and a driver in 1945 and became the first female member of the Royal family to become an active full-time member of the armed services.
ZpWPD TIL of the Lodz Ghetto, where at one point 15000 'useless eaters' deemed 'not fit to work', mainly children under 10, were rounded up and taken away from their families to be exterminated. Some families committed collective suicide.