› added 8 years ago

281

TIL Stalin had a secret lab to analyze the feces of other foreign leaders for the purpose of constructing psychological portraits. For example, a leader with high levels of tryptophan was assumed to be calm and approachable, while a lack of potassium indicated a nervous disposition.

Read more smithsonianmag.com

via ift.tt

165y7 TIL A man bought an unattractive painting for its frame for $4 and discovered one of the 26 known copies of the United States’ Declaration of Independence hidden behind it. He later sold it at auction for $2.42 million.
XB0D TIL Creed from the american show “The Office” is actually Creed Bratton, a former member of the band “The Grass Roots” and is playing a fictional version of himself in the show.
9w06M TIL of the 118 elements, 19 are named after 20 people. Only Seaborg and Oganessian were honored with elements while still alive, and Oganessian is the only one still living. Proposals to name elements for Einstein and Fermi came during their lifetimes, but they had passed before it became official.
J1DrV TIL that the Columbine massacre was actually a failed bombing. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold planted bombs and attempted to blow up the school and kill hundreds of people but they failed and instead did the shooting.
OG0N7 TIL that "Sleeping Beauty" was the nickname given to the corpse of Francys Arsentiev, the first American woman to summit Mount Everest without the aid of bottled oxygen. She died during the descent and her corpse was visible to climbers for 9 years until it was moved.