› added 11 years ago

64

TIL that our ability to comprehend certain colors depends on if our language has a word for that color, and some cultures do not distinguish between blue and green.

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X0Mv6 TIL the Phil Collins album No Jacket Required is named after an incident at a Chicago restaurant where Collins was denied admittance. Collins later appeared on TV denouncing the restaurant who in turn sent him a sport coat and an apology, saying he could come back wearing whatever he wanted.
lo9OA TIL about Chionis of Sparta, an ancient Greek Olympian whose long jump record of over 7 meters at the Olympic games of 656 BC would have won him gold at the 1896 Olympics and placed him in the top eight of the next 10 games, through the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki.
Arl TIL that the computer term booting up comes from the phrase “Pulling yourself up by your bootstraps”. This is because, paradoxically, a computer cannot run without first loading software but some software must run before any software can be loaded.
78AJP TIL about Edward Dando, notorious glutton and dine-and-dasher in 1800's Britain, who would eat dozens of oysters, not pay, go to jail, get released, and promptly do it again
v1WlD TIL that Memorial Day in the U.S. was started to honor Civil War dead, that it was originally called Decoration day, and that it's purpose was to set aside a day to put decorations on the graves of fallen soldiers. The date was chosen because it was not the date of any particular battle.