› added 3 years ago

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TIL that domestic cats' intelligence may apply "if I fits I sits" even in perceived spaces -- for instance, a cat will still try to sit in a 2D optical illusion that can be perceived as a 3D container (Illusory contours)

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wXrY TIL that a scientist breached security at Los Alamos by leaving an orange on his desk, and that any spherical object became a “nuclear secret” once it passed into a secure area of the laboratory, as it could be taken as a model for the plutonium pit that drives a nuclear weapon.
wL1rW TIL in the 1930s, bridge construction projects expected one fatality for every $1 million in cost. So, the Chief Engineer of the Golden Gate Bridge enacted the most stringent safety measures in history. He even formulated diets to help fight dizziness and sauerkraut juice “cures” for hangovers.
9kmM TIL J.K. Rowling was the first ever person to become a billionaire (in US dollars) by writing books
M7OA7 TIL that electricity flows around copper wires, not through them.
b94GQ TIL of Jordan Anderson. After gaining his freedom from slavery and being asked by his former master to come back to work, Mr. Anderson wrote a deadpan style letter asking for 25 years back pay.