› added 9 years ago

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TIL Captain America was first published a year prior to Pearl Harbor, when there was still strong isolationist opposition to America becoming involved in World War II

JYo5V TIL about Bertlmann's socks — a physicist so famed for wearing odd socks every day, that they have been turned into a metaphor about how quantum mechanics does (not) work.
9wL9Q TIL Since the late 1950s, aerospace engineers have used the term "unobtainium" when referring to unusual or costly materials, or when theoretically considering a material perfect for their needs in all respects, except that it does not exist.
Z8Zvo [TIL] A group of psychiatrists watched/ studied 400 films trying to determine the most realistic psychopath; Anton Chigurh (No Country For Old Men] took number one. Hannibal Lector, Patrick Bateman (although entertaining), the most unrealistic.
R7n0j Humpback whales are far better known for their bellowing "songs" that can travel up to six miles, but the animals also have quiet voices. Biologists have observed humpback calves “whispering” to their mothers in tones that can be heard only within 330 feet—a strategy to prevent predators, such as orcas, from eavesdropping. Calves also want to avoid adult male humpbacks, which may try to separate the calf from its mother to mate. This shortened time with its mom could ultimately weaken the calf, which needs to drink 50 gallons of milk a day to fuel up for its long migration.
Me80 TIL in 1778, Thomas Jefferson authored a bill that would change the penalty for rape or sodomy from death, to castration.