› added 9 years ago

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TIL that word formations like LGBTQ and USA are technically not acronyms, they are “initialisms” or “alphabetisms”. NATO and laser are acronyms, because they are pronounced as words and not just as a string of letters.

Read more data.grammarbook.com

via reddit.com

vnxB TIL that Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys wrote “California Girls” during his first experience with LSD. He sat in front of a piano and played what are now the first four notes of the song over and over again for about an hour, until the rest of the song suddenly came to him.
PD6e TIL: Jim Thorpe’s 1912 Olympic achievements are still not recognized by the IOC.
KRB4 TIL the use of sunscreen can cause coral bleaching; the main component of sunscreen, titanium dioxide, forms hydrogen peroxide, OH- and superoxides (O2-) in water, all of which contribute to coral bleaching. 10% of bleached coral is estimated to have been caused by sunscreen alone.
yQ6Pv TIL that out of the 31 teams currently in the National Hockey League, over 1/3rd have never won the Stanley Cup (11/31 teams). Four have not even made it to the finals.
AmWn TIL 24% of all laws passed by the 110th congress were for renaming post offices.