› added 4 months ago

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TIL In some U.S. states, like Minnesota and Vermont, walking away from an emergency could get you fined up to $100. Simply calling 911 counts as “help,” and Good Samaritan laws protect those who physically help. However in many other states, you can ignore someone in need without any consequences.

M7mab TIL Plato once offered a literal definition of humanity: he called a human “a featherless biped”. Cynic philosopher Diogenes took it literally – he plucked a chicken, strode into Plato’s lecture hall & announced, “Here is Plato’s man.” Plato had to add “with broad, flat nails” to save face.
VBR0Z TIL: after rejecting a scholarship offer to Harvard at age 16 in 1931, Orson Welles travelled to Europe. While in Dublin, he walked into a theatre and claimed he was a broadway star. The manager, impressed by his audition and brashness, gave him work, and that same year, Welles made his stage debut.
NvrN TIL In 1959, Volvo invented the 3-point seat belt, then gave free license to all other car manufacturers to use it. [x-post from r/Autos]
e04d5 TIL about Euler's disk, which can spin for an absurdly long time, and seemingly defy gravity by increasing its axial precession as it decreases it's azimuthal rotation.
loZbG TIL about Canadian serial killer Gilbert Paul Jordan aka The Boozing Barber who killed 8-10 aboriginal women by forcing them to drink lethal quantities of alcohol. One of his victims, Patricia Andrew, had a blood alcohol level at 0.79. Jordan also drank at least 50 oz of vodka each day.