› added 6 years ago

208

TIL about Jaron Lanier, who at 13 convinced a university to allow him to enroll (where he took graduate-level courses) and at 16 built a canoe he sailed from Florida to Venezuela. He is considered a founding father of the field of virtual reality.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

ADOOd TIL Dirk Willems was jailed for his devotion to being an Anabaptist. He escaped from prison, but when the guard pursuing him fell through the ice, but Willems turned around to save the guard. Because of this act of heroism, the guard recaptured Willems, and Willems was burned at the stake.
0w4ry TIL in New York City, over 690 subway trains were delayed due to people jumping on the track. And over 726 trains were delayed due to litter and garbage fires... in one month.
oBdrE TIL that while Drew Struzan is famous for his movie posters, he also designed album cover artwork for many artists including The Beach Boys, Bee Gees, Roy Orbison, Black Sabbath, Glenn Miller, Iron Butterfly, Alice Cooper, Bach, Earth, Wind and Fire and Liberace.
GvPJ TIL that Edward Packard came up with the “Choose Your Own Adventure” books when he told stories to his children, and allowed them to decide what the character did, and went on to sell of 250 million books.
9Y15p TIL from 1946-1993, RADIOACTIVE MATERIAL (medical waste-spent nuclear fuel/reactors) was DUMPED INTO THE OCEANS by 13 nations. Records are often incomplete/incorrect, and ~982,394 cubic metres of radioactive waste was dumped in all major oceans, seas around Europe and Japan, and the English Channel.