› added 8 years ago

105

TIL the only person to ever play themselves in any Star Trek series was Stephen Hawking

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4Xn95 TIL Senator Mike Gravel of Alaska was instrumental in the release of the Pentagon Papers, using his seat on an obscure committee to force the Papers into Congressional record
N7GyN TIL the word "thug" originates from a murderous Indian cult that strangled travelers to death. The cult operated for over 500 years and may have killed millions of people.
0dr8j TIL people are still learning Manchu language (used by the Chinese Qing empire) to study ancient Qing texts in Taiwan (but Manchus now speak Mandarin Chinese, and FYI the Chinese most people in the world now learn is a Manchu accent Chinese)
nWgB TIL The Gaia Hypothesis, the idea that the Earth is a self-regulating organism, was partially developed by Lynn Margulis, a.k.a. Carl Sagan’s wife.
69E8W TIL that in April of 1861, Former President Franklin Pierce wrote to the other living former presidents and asked them to consider meeting to use their stature and influence to propose a negotiated end to the war. However, this idea was ultimately never acted on.