› added 11 years ago

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TIL: When he was dying, Einstein refused surgery, saying “I want to go when I want. It is tasteless to prolong life artificially. I have done my share, it is time to go. I will do it elegantly.”

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W7OOd TIL no film has ever won all four acting awards at the Oscars (Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, & Best Supporting Actress) and only three films have ever won three out of the four: A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), Network (1976), and Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022).
Qopk TIL The sudden startled jolt awake sometimes experienced when on the verge of sleeping is known as a hypnic jerk, and is likely a vestigial reflex selected to help primates avoid falling while resting or asleep in trees.
Pw7e TIL that a Colombian program called kangaroo care, where prematurely born babies are kept in constant skin-to-skin contact with parents, has shown success over hospital incubators in reducing infant mortality.
WkG1A TIL Sir Isaac Newton repeatedly did experiments sticking a bodkin (a very sharp needle) between his eyeball and his eye socket, “as neare to backside of my eye as I could”,he was quoted. He did this til he saw spots. He did it because he hoped he might learn something about color.
nW7Nb TIL that Alexandra of Denmark had such a strong influence on fashion that when a bad case of rheumatic fever left her with a permanent limp, it became trendy for wealthy women to walk around with a fake limp themselves. They even wore shoes with different sized heels for a more authentic limp.