Post * wZ18 — Curious Curator

› added 10 years ago

60

TIL Pioneering English scientist Francis Bacon died of pneumonia after trying to stuff a chicken with snow.

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VM5B4 TIL that NASA lost the Mars Climate Orbiter spacecraft due to the lack of conversion of some data to metric system.

QNGgE TIL that Tolkien realized he had created a moral dilemma when writing orcs. They're supposed to be a purely evil race for the heroes to cut through without guilt, but they could talk and knew about morality, so by Tolkien's beliefs, they couldn't be pure evil and should be given mercy if possible.

9YaDG TIL that Albert I of Belgium is called the "Knight King" because he personally led his army in combat for all of WWI; also his wife, Elizabeth of Bavaria, served as a nurse in front-line field hospitals.

nM0P TIL that NBA players do not tend to come from poverty. Contrary to stereotype, “Growing up in a wealthier neighborhood is a major, positive predictor of reaching the N.B.A.” Black NBA players are about 30% less likely to have an unwed or teenage mother.

j6NXR TIL That Harold Ross — co-founder and editor of The New Yorker magazine — dropped out of school at 13. He edited every issue of the magazine from the first until his death—a total of 1,399 issues.