› added 9 years ago

347

TIL That scientists have discovered how to temporarily induce Rain-Man like skills in normal people by stimulating parts of the brain with magnetic pulses.

Read more rstb.royalsocietypublishing.org

via reddit.com

XEp5R TIL in 1970 film critic Roger Ebert wrote the screenplay for ‘Beyond the Valley of the Dolls’. One review described it as “a treat for the emotionally retarded, sexually inadequate and dimwitted. It is a grievously sick melange of hypermammalian girls, obvious double-entendres and sadistic violence”
xVxOw TIL that Prince was supposed to sing the hook on Kendrick Lamar's "Complexion (A Zulu Love). Prince heard and loved the record, and the concept of the record got both of them talking until they realized they didn't record anything and they ran out of time in the studio.
a8rX0 TIL the Instrument of Government and the Humble Petition and Advice were the only codified constitutions of England
NAO1 TIL the first credit card, issued in 1949 and made out of cardboard, was Diners Club. Co-founder Frank McNamara was dining with clients and realized he forgot his wallet. His wife paid the tab, and McNamara thought of a multipurpose charge card as a way to avoid similar embarrassments in the future.
a8Bno TIL Rick Marin from the New York Times called the record label Sub-Pop and asked Megan Jasper for a lexicon of Grunge slang. She kept giving him progressively more ridiculous terms as a joke thinking he would call her out on it, but instead he believed every word of it and published them.