› added 12 years ago

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TIL there may exist objects in our Universe that behave just the opposite of a black hole (a white hole). They cannot be entered from the outside, but matter and light can escape. The Big Bang might have been a white hole itself, and big bangs possibly occur at the center of all black holes.

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dDl9 TIL insects do not experience pain because they lack nociceptors. Crustaceans are suspected to feel pain, however no nociceptors are present in their anatomy.
rNKL4 TIL Plato wrote that a nation should be led by its most curious, benevolent, just, kind, and altruistic individuals. He called them Philosopher Kings. They would spend their entire life preparing for this role. Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius was said to best exemplify this idea.
ne6NB TIL that Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks, and Kevin Costner were all offered and passed on the role of Andy Dufresne in The Shawshank Redemption—Hanks instead chose Forrest Gump, and Costner chose Waterworld, while Cruise declined to work for the first time director Frank Darabont.
eXj6 TIL William Howard Taft, the 27th president of the United States, once said that perhaps the best way to handle former Presidents was to chloroform and ceremonially cremate them when they left office, in order to “fix their place in history and enable the public to pass on to new men”
wLJO7 TIL that the first person to die in the American Civil War was actually killed by accident. The soldier's name was Daniel Hough and he was killed by an cannon explosion caused by the same cannon firing prematurely during a 100-gun salute to the flag.