› added 2 years ago

151

TIL Salvador Dali once scammed Yoko Ono into paying him $10,000 for a single blade of dry grass. Yoko had offered to pay him that sum for just one of his mustache hairs. He substituted the piece of grass for the single hair because he believed Yoko Ono was a witch and might use it to cast a spell.

Read more mymodernmet.com

via reddit.com

0da7M TIL that by releasing a massive bolt of electricity, lightning is five times hotter than the sun when it strikes. But the average lightning strike lasts only 30 microseconds.
RB0Q TIL of the Order of the White Feather. During WW1 women would shame non-uniformed men, giving them a white feather for cowardice. One recipient was George Samson who was on his way in civilian clothes to be awarded the Victoria Cross for gallantry in the Gallipoli campaign.
PYB1G TIL That the continent of Antarctica was originally going to be called Australia, until the colonial authorities in Sydney took the name for their continent. After that Antarctica had no official name for over 80 years until the 1890s. It was just referred to as the Antarctic Continent.
E1dwV TIL "Pinhead" actor Doug Bradley became so adept at applying and removing his prosthetic makeup that he was given an Assistant Make-up Artist credit on some Hellraiser films.
dD0lZ TIL the vast majority of the Earth's mantle is not magma but rather solid rock because of the extreme pressures. The viscosity of this rock is comparable to that of normal glass at room temperature, hence why plate tectonics only moves at speeds measured in centimeters per year.