› added 7 years ago

939

Of all the bodies in our solar system, the sun is probably the one we want to give the widest berth. It gushes radiation, and even though its surface is the coolest part of the star, it burns at about 9,940°F, hot enough to incinerate just about any material. As such, there are no plans to send a manned mission in its direction anytime soon (Mars is much more interesting, anyway), but it can't hurt to figure out at what distance a person would want to turn back. You can get surprisingly close. The sun is about 93 million miles away from Earth, and if we think of that distance as a football field, a person starting at one end zone could get about 95 yards before burning up.

7rV8p TIL that the real Johnny Appleseed was a wealthy missionary and a nurseryman named John Chapman. Rather then randomly planting apples he planted them as a way to gain land. Also his apples werent for eating but to make brandy instead. He also planted medicine herbs to give to the Native Americans.
kpLg TIL that after enlisting in 1942, Audie Murphy was rejected by the Marines for being too short and the navy for being too skinny. The Army accepted him, but did not want to send him into combat because he looked so young. He went on to receive every military award for valor available from the Army.
NOZb TIL that according to certain psychological models, there are four stages to learning a skill: unconscious incompetence, conscious incompetence, conscious competence, and unconscious competence.
Oojw4 TIL Early in life, Abraham Lincoln wrestled. When local gang leader Jack Armstrong heard of him, he challenged The Honest One to a match. It ended with Abe grabbing him by the throat, hoisting him up, giving a little shake, then throwing him to the dirt. It was the first chokeslam used in wrestling.
ep4vL TIL of Phallaceae, AKA "Stinkhorn" fungus, a fungus that emits a foul smell to attract flies, beetles, and other insects to disperse the spores.