› added 4 years ago

181

Today I learned that the slang word “stan” originates from an Eminem song of the same name, a portmanteau of “stalker” and “fan”. The connotation was originally negative.

Read more stereogum.com

via reddit.com

5LpD TIL that before his Moon walk, Buzz Aldrin took communion secretly. Atheist Madalyn Murray O'Hair had brought a lawsuit against NASA objecting to the Apollo 8 crew reading from the Book of Genesis. O'Hair demanded that astronauts refrain from broadcasting religious activities while in space.
GYb8G Today I learned that there was a species of humans that were extremely short, named Homo floresiensis, and nicknamed 'hobbit'. They were found on the island of Flores, Indonesia, and the remains of a skeleton found tell us that they were around 1.1m tall.
Nb0J TIL Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s interest in spiritualism cost him a friendship with Harry Houdini. When Houdini showed Doyle that he could reproduce the so-called mystic powers of mediums, Doyle was unconvinced, and instead, believed that Houdini himself was a psychic.
v1X97 Til that the English meaning of 1 billion which was 1 million million, was changed in 1975 to adopt the American meaning which stands at 1 thousand million.
pdoN TIL Peace Arch International Park was designed so that people from Canada and America can get together without the need for passports