› added 11 years ago

182

TIL Queen Victoria was fluent in Urdu and Hindi.

Read more columbia.edu

via reddit.com

AGOo TIL people who stay abstinent have a higher chance to die young than heavy drinkers
mxNev TIL Children who mail letters to Santa at the North Pole with the zip code 12345 are actually mailing a GE plant in Schenectady NY. Workers take their lunch break to respond to children's letters pretending to be Santa's elves.
X0EgR TIL about "mundane science fiction," a sci-fi literary movement driven by creating plausible extensions of existing science and technology; situating stories on Earth or within the Solar System, thereby lacking the use of interstellar or intergalactic travel; and not considering contact with aliens.
epeV5 TIL The Swedish version of the Survivor reality show is called Robinson. The name alludes to both Robinson Crusoe and The Swiss Family Robinson, two stories featuring people marooned by shipwrecks.
oR1jE TIL that the single largest infiltration of the United States government in history was committed by the Church of Scientology in order to purge unfavorable records about Scientology and its founder L. Ron Hubbard.