› added 6 years ago

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TIL Based on da Vinci's work, there is evidence that the artist had strabismus: one eye is straight, while the other eye can drift. Some forms of strabismus are thought to facilitate artistic work by suppressing the deviating eye, which creates 2D monocular vision advantageous to painting & drawing

Odve TIL Aussie 200M record holder Peter Norman who won silver at the 1968 Olympics wore a badge to support Americans Smith and Carlos while on the podium during their infamous black power salute. After this he and his family were outcasts in Australia and he couldn’t compete in the 72 Olympics.
XENrj TIL that metric paper sizes (like A4) reflect the number of equal cuts from an A0 sheet (1 square meter). So A1 is 0.5 sq meter, A2 is 0.25, etc. with all sizes of equal proportions. The closest to US letter paper is A4, which measures 210 x 297mm (8.3 x 11.7 inch, close to US letter 8.5 x 11 inch).
j65OM TIL Possession of the Anarchist Cookbook is illegal in the UK and they've sent young men to jail for years over it.
nWXjP TIL about the mysterious case of Exploding Trousers that occurred in New Zealand between WWI and WW2. It turns out farmers had been spraying a particular herbicide which would then crystallize and collect on their clothes, then ignite when exposed to spark or open flame.
xWN5 TIL genius mathematician, philosopher and logician Kurt Gödel eventually starved to death, after his wife was hospitalised and he did not trust eating food prepared by anyone else