› added 1 year ago

53

TIL: "Silhouette" is derived from the French finance minister, Étienne de Silhouette. de Silhouette's strict economies made his name synonymous with anything done/made cheaply. Before photography, silhouette profiles cut from black card were the cheapest way of recording a person's appearance.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

p84b TIL red sapphires are so rare, they’re given another name: rubies
nn09 TIL that Macklemore and his hit “Thrift Shop” was the first time since 1994 that a song reached number 1 on the Hot 100 chart without the support of a major record label.
ZlDG TIL Jan 1st 1953 a woman changed her name to Peace Pilgrim “to remain a wanderer until mankind has learned the way of peace”. She’d walk until given shelter, fast until given food, without asking, it was given. She died in a car crash in July 1981 from a lift to a speaking engagement
x6XN1 TIL odor sensitivity correlates positively with sexual experience: Participants with high olfactory sensitivity reported higher pleasantness of sexual activities.
1aN08 TIL that pistachio nuts are very tricky to ship. They can spontaneously combust or suck all of the air out of a storage area