› added 13 years ago

266

TIL humans are actually more skilled at identifying caricatures of people than photographs of them.

Read more hms.harvard.edu

via reddit.com

VMO44 TIL In 1912, Leonardo Torres y Quevedo invented a chess-playing machine that could solve a king and rook vs king endgame. It didn't always deliver mate in the fewest number of moves, nor always within the 50-move rule limit but it would checkmate the opponent every time.
yQnna TIL in the 1920s, Jordanian poet Mustafa Wahbi Tal was once arrested for displaying Bolshevik symbols, , becoming inebriated in a public bar and publicly reciting a poem that insulted the Emir, the Prime Minister, and the law
DNGv TIL the word Maverick comes from Samuel Maverick, a 19th century Texan who refused to brand his cattle
vvbL TIL Tony Danza starred in a reality show in which he taught 10th grade students, which lasted one season because it wasn’t dramatic enough and Tony refused to allow the producers to try to generate drama among his students.
x8Bw TIL violin strings have been made from 5000 strands of spider silk. They produce ‘a soft and profound timbre’ when played