› added 11 years ago

344

TIL if you divide the earth into 360 degrees and divide those into 60 minutes each that’s how far a nautical mile is.

Read more science.howstuffworks.com

via reddit.com

QWX TIL that Harriet Tubman carried a gun to stop runaway slaves from going back to the plantation in order to keep the underground railroad safe.
kOwg4 TIL that the name of the eponymous character "STAN" from Eminem's biggest hit song of the same name ,has given rise to a slang term online which refers to overzealous, maniacal, overly obsessed fans of a celebrity or personality; the term has since been included in the Oxford English Dictionary.
WaA8 TIL when waiters gave mints w/their patrons’ check, their tips increased by 3%. If waiters personally handed 2mints per patron w/check, their tips increased by 14%. Their tips increased by 21% if they handed the mints directly to the patrons w/check, and then came back with more mints later.
QJGYe TIL Beauty and the Beast was written in 1740 as a critique of the forced marriages between 13-15 yr old girls to adult men common at the time. Later versions shifted the emphasis to teach young girls "good manners and how to deal with the idea of marrying young and being in an arranged marriage."
9Y7dm TIL the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation donated $4M to help stop malaria in a plan to create genetically modified non-biting male mosquitoes released to mate with malaria-carrying wild females, giving birth to progeny that dies before reaching the human biting age.