› added 1 month ago

TIL The USA donated cement and funds to Laos for the construction of an airport for US jets, but instead Laos built a monument.

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9YxZ6 TIL two mediums transcribed Mark Twain's alleged last book via ouija board, titled "Jap Herron". Clara Clemens blocked the publication to stop it from smearing her father's good name.
wgK7 TIL Famed molecular biologist James Watson put his Nobel Prize up for auction in 2014 due to financial hardships. It sold for $4.1 million, and was promptly returned to him by the buyer.
yVGdp TIL that the boy from Spy Kids is married to Meghan Trainor
RY06 TIL that most of Brent Spiner’s (Data on Star Trek: TNG) fan mail came from women who wrote to his character: “he’s a really accessible personality. He’s vulnerable and innocent, and there’s a feeling that he’s somebody who would be kind.” Some fans could not accept that Spiner was really human.
M7prm TIL medieval alchemists associated the 7 known metals at the time (gold, silver, quicksilver, copper, iron, tin, and lead) with the 7 classical planets (the sun, the moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn, respectively). Because of this association, quicksilver is called "mercury" today.