› added 4 years ago

48

TIL: James Milne Wilson was born and died on February 29

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via reddit.com

5YyG8 TIL that catfish whiskers are completely harmless, but it's actually the fins that can cause high amounts of pain
xyRw TIL the U.S. Coast Guard occasionally received telegrams from concerned citizens, who apparently did not realize Gilligan’s Island was a scripted show, pleading for them to rescue the people on the deserted island.
0dQ75 TIL that Walt Disney referred to the opening day of Disneyland as “Black Sunday.” The temperature was 101 °F (38 °C), people with counterfeit tickets flooded the park, the water fountains didn’t work, women’s shoes sunk into the asphalt, and people hurled their children over crowds to get on rides.
0wEjj TIL about the Bystander Effect. A social phenomenon where individuals witnessing a crime or accident are less likely to help depending on the number of bystanders. The more bystanders, the less likely it is that one of them will help.
ZDwo TIL in 1945, a radar engineer named Percy Spencer was working at Ratheon. He stepped in front of a magnetron, a device that powers radars. He noticed a chocolate bar in his pocket had melted. Later that year, he filed a patent for the first microwave oven.