› added 10 years ago

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TIL There is a dutch word that essentially means “To pretend to be doing something important, when really you’re doing nothing.”

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pY9pQ TIL: Vampire bats can detect heat using a modified version of the receptor that responds to burning or capsaicin (spicy things). They can "see" at ~30 degrees C
AN08x TIL after Game 4 of the 2011 NBA Finals, in which Mavs star Dirk Nowitzki was dealing with a fever, Heat players LeBron James and Dwyane Wade made fun of him and mocked his coughs. Nowitzki responded with a 29-point effort in a Game 5 win, and the Mavs won the NBA Championship one game later
Rw9 TIL scientists have found a way to make an invisibility cloak, which led to “time cloaks,” that can make entire events invisible.
9wL6m TIL One reason England started using prisons was because Public Executions were becoming more of a drunken party vs. a deterrent to crime
KO1Na TIL that Charles Babbage, once literally baked himself in an oven at 265°F (130°C) for four minutes "without any great discomfort" to "see what would happen."