Post * wDL7 — Curious Curator

› added 9 years ago

141

TIL During a debate in Congress, an opponent referred to the illegitimate birth of the president of Colombia, and he responded: “Sir: I am a child of love, it is true. You are a child of obligation.”

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wLd1P TIL the phrase being on "cloud nine" actually comes from a cloud atlas published in 1896 that divides clouds into 10 basic types, the ninth type being cumulonimbus clouds, the most puffy-looking ones. See A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson, Part V Chapter 17 Into the Troposphere.

VMnVp TIL that modern wolves are not closely related to the wolves that were first domesticated, implying that the direct ancestor of the domestic dog is extinct

Y70kx TIL U.S. railroads adopted the Standard Time System on the "Day of Two Noons." On Nov. 18, 1883, the Univ. of Pittsburgh's observatory telegraphed railroads at the exact moment of high noon under the 90th meridian line to reset/synchronize their clocks, dissolving the 100+ timezones previously used.

oBEMo TIL that in 408BC an actor named Hegelochus mispronounced a word and, instead of saying "after the storm I see again a calm sea," accidentally said "after the storm I see again a weasel." This mistake was so mocked by other Ancient Greeks that over two millennia later we still know his name.

e0rRk TIL Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull was so annoyed at critics calling "Aqualung" a concept album when he didn't consider it one that he decided to make "the mother of all concept albums" - "Thick as a Brick", a 43:46-long single piece of music designed to spoof progressive rock.