› added 5 years ago

80

TIL Redd Foxx and Malcolm X met while working at the same restaurant in Harlem in the 1940s. They were called "Chicago Red" and "Detroit Red" respectively, due to their reddish hair. In his autobiography, Malcolm X refers to Foxx as "the funniest dishwasher on this earth."

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

eRQg TIL: An Indian man single-handedly planted a 1,360 acre forest that is home to a complex, thriving ecosystem
oBxJK TIL that while Martin Luther King Jr. Day was created in 1983, states were slow to accept the holiday. All 50 states didn't celebrate the holiday until 2000.
7rE4X TIL Some maniac scientists have created transgenic albino silkworm monstrosities which spin SPIDER silk. The idea is to weave it into bullet proof vests, surgical replacement ligaments, and super light aircraft. And for fighting crime, obviously.
oBQBY TIL in 1996, NASA established the Breakthrough Propulsion Physics program in order to research propulsion that requires no propellant mass. Topics of interest include experiments and theories regarding gravity and electromagnetism, vacuum energy, warp drives and worm-holes and quantum effects.
JYWBm TIL that Danny Boyle relied mostly on the honesty of his volunteer cast to "save the surprise" of the London 2012 opening ceremony