› added 12 years ago

339

TIL That this fruit is the world’s shiniest living thing

Read more grist.org

via reddit.com

Bg89x TIL: a former Italian porn star, Carlo Massi, quit porn to do research in applied mathematics, got his PhD, taught real analysis, became a professor, and then got sacked for being a former porn star. He sued and won against the university.
1X17 TIL Donald Unger cracked his left hand knuckles everyday for 60 years but did not do so on his right hand. Proving that cracking knuckles had no effect on his health he earned a 2009 Ig Nobel Prize in Medicine.
4XeB5 TIL about Mariya Oktyabrskaya. When her husband was killed in 1941, she paid for a tank, named it "Fighting Girlfriend," and distinguished herself as a fearless and deadly tank driver, often repairing her tank under heavy fire. After she died in March 1944, she was named a Hero of the Soviet Union.
wLkeY TIL that WWII ended 5 weeks before a planned Japanese biological attack on San Diego involving plague infected fleas. The idea was developed at Unit 731 which conducted extensive human experimentation, mostly on Chinese prisoners.
Egy6d TIL Walt Disney World in Florida was originally not going to have a version of the popular Pirates of the Caribbean ride. As Florida is part of the Caribbean, Disney felt Floridians would find it redundant.