› added 10 years ago

88

TIL that Neil Armstrong missed the application deadline for the Apollo Program by a week, but a friend slipped his application into the pile.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

JYnpV TIL bumblebees have parasitic "doppelgangers" called cuckoo bumblebees that resemble a specific race enough to be able to sneak into their nest, kill the queen, and trick all the workers into feeding their offspring and ultimately taking over the whole nest before moving onto their next target.
nW1W TIL that a copy of a groundbreaking British economics report was found in Hitler’s bunker, with annotations stating that the British system was far superior to any Nazi socio/economic policy.
NX4Oe TIL Richard Wagner fled to Zurich between 1849 and 1858, due to his involvement in the May uprising in Dresden. Zurich changed Wagner from being an employed conductor and composer to becoming a freelance composer and writer, which was a new concept
d8Gb9 TIL Roman Emperor Valerian was captured in battle by Persian Emperor Shapur I and what happened after is unknown. Stories include being a slave and footstool, being forced to swallow molten gold, being flayed and his skin taken as a prize, and building Caesar's Dam near Susa before being released.
XE4WX TIL that upon imprisonment American Psychologist Timothy Leary was given psychological tests designed to aid placing inmates in jobs that were best suited to them. Leary himself had designed a few of them and used that knowledge to get a low-security gardening assignment, and escaped.