› added 6 years ago

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TIL the $35 that scientific journals charge you to read a paper goes 100% to the publisher and 0% to the authors. If you email a researcher and ask for their paper, they are allowed to send them to you for free and will be genuinely delighted to do so.

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QNyKd TIL that Roman philosopher Augustine of Hippo argued that the Biblical Genesis Narrative of God creating the world in seven days was false because the best science of the time suggested that the world was created in one day.
QNnl6 TIL that the administration of Pheasant Island, an uninhabited river island located between France and Spain, alternates between the two nations every 6 months.
epmGk TIL that in competitive chess, if you want to adjust a piece that has been knocked over or jostled away from the center of its square, you use the French terms "J'adoube", which also means "I nominate (to a position)" and "I bestow knighthood upon (someone)".
d85jj TIL that the sound commonly attributed to the Bald Eagle is actually the call of a Red-Tailed Hawk, whereas the Bald Eagle sounds more similar to a... Seagull
nXdW TIL that the largest non-commercial rocket launch in Europe was undertaken by Top Gear while attempting to send a Reliant Robin to space