› added 11 years ago

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TIL that the largest known fossil spider is only about half the size of its modern relatives. (Meaning that the biggest spiders that exist today might be biggest spiders that have ever existed…)

Read more news.nationalgeographic.com

via reddit.com

rRkE4 TIL that serial killer Edmund Kemper has lent his voice to at least 100 audiobooks, including Flowers in the Attic and the novelizations of the Star Wars trilogy.
LkD90 TIL of the staggering level of American alcohol consumption in the 1800s. It peaked in 1830, at the equivalent of 1.7 bottles of standard-strength whiskey, per person, per week.
grnlX TIL about the accidental invention of the potato chip
xVA6b TIL Michael Jackson composed songs despite not playing any instruments. He would build each element of a track with his voice, so pitch perfect that studio musicians could match chords to his singing.
OoMWg TIL when world champion boxer Joe Louis voluntarily joined the U.S. Army in 1942 he was asked about his decision to enter the (then) racially segregated organisation, he replied: "Lots of things wrong with America, but Hitler ain't going to fix them."