todayilearned
TIL Norway sends the UK Christmas trees every year as a symbol of gratitude for “preserving Norwegian liberty” during World War 2.
TIL Norway sends the UK Christmas trees every year as a symbol of gratitude for “preserving Norwe...
and not just a little one either and we really appreciate it.
As a child, when we found ourselves walking through the square around christmas, every year my father would turn to me and say, "see that great big tree? Norway sent that as a thank you for help in the second world war. Nice of them to still send them every year".
As a Nova Scotian we ship the nicest tree we can find to Boston for Christmas every year as a thank you for their aid in the Halifax explosion. Everyone loves a bigass christmas tree.
We love you too, Norge. <3
TIL that the "World Taekwondo Federation (WTF)" has changed its name to "World Taekwondo (WT)" because of the "negative connotations" associated with its initials.
TIL that the "World Taekwondo Federation (WTF)" has changed its name to "World Taekwondo (WT)" be...
WTF?
I can't believe they didn't want to go with Global Taekwondo Federation Organisation
Someone should tell BBC, think they noticed after releasing this article?
TIL a janitor removed a full wall window in Eric Clapton's 53rd floor NYC apartment to let in fresh air. His 4 year old son was playing hide and seek with the nanny and he slipped on waxed wood out the open window. Clapton's "Tears from Heaven" was written about his son.
The 6 foot by 4 foot window was opened by the cleaner, had no window guards, weren't code at time for older buildings.
You might want to work on your reading comprehension.
I had no idea that's how it happened.
The difference between coke and a baby is clapton would never let a bag of coke fall out the window.
TIL Sir Alec Guinness,Obi-Wan Kenobi in the original Star Wars, disliked his character so much that advised George Lucas to kill him off under the guise of "making him a stronger character"
TIL Sir Alec Guinness,Obi-Wan Kenobi in the original Star Wars, disliked his character so much th...
That's just plain wrong. Guinness' suggested to Lucas that he killed off the Obi-Wan character for two good reasons:
1) originally Obi-Wan did nothing in the third act, he's an absolutely irrelevant character, and
2) his death, seen by Luke - provides him with the motivation into the third acts Death Star attack.
What he suggested made perfect dramatic sense
That role made him pretty damn rich.
All the main cast lucked out getting percentages of the take. Probably none of them expected that they'd see as much money out of the movie as they did.
While those may have been valid reasons for killing off his character, and while they do fit well with the plot (I agree that it was a good move), and Guinness put forward these points, he did state his main reason was that "I just couldn't go on speaking those bloody awful, banal lines. I'd had enough of the mumbo jumbo."
TIL of the London Hammer: A man-made tool that was mysteriously found encased in a 400 million year old rock.
TIL of the London Hammer: A man-made tool that was mysteriously found encased in a 400 million ye...
"The hammer in question was probably dropped or discarded by a local miner or craftsman within the last few hundred years, after which dissolved limy sediment hardened into a nodule around it."
This is a way better article that Wikipedia:
Creationist two-button dilemma:
Button #1: The Earth is only 6000 years old.
Button #2: The London Hammer is encased in 400 million year old rock.
Nah, it's proof scientist cannot accurately date objects. Meaning all evidence for geology, archeology, paleontology and the like are false. Meaning the Bible is the only accurate measure for the age of the earth.
S/
TIL of Charles Henry Turner. He was an African American scientist who earned his PhD in 1907. He discovered that insects could distinguish pitch, that cockroaches can learn by trial and error and that honeybees can see color.
TIL of Charles Henry Turner. He was an African American scientist who earned his PhD in 1907. He discovered that insects could distinguish pitch, that cockroaches can learn by trial and error and that honeybees can see color.
"Honey, leave those bees alone and come to bed!" "Dammit woman, I'm doing this for humanity!" The tagline for the movie about his life will be, "In a world divided by the color of men's skin, one man rose above bigotry to prove that bees could also see color."
"Honey where is my Beekeeper suit?"
From now on I will call "Trial, and Error" as "Roach Approach".
Starring Samuel L Jackson
TIL that Apatheism is the belief that if a god exists, or not, it does not matter, because the effect is the same. Therefore there is no point engaging in worship or even positing the question of existence of the god at all.
TIL that Apatheism is the belief that if a god exists, or not, it does not matter, because the ef...
“Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones.”- Marcus Aurelius
TL;DR:
-“God?
-Meh”
TIL I am an apatheist.
Thank you kind stranger!
/sub/apatheism As you'll find out in a second, the only posts are "Hey I'm glad I found this place!" and a whole lot of nothing else. There's simply nothing for us to discuss. Maybe God exists? Maybe he doesn't. W/e. It's the perfect sub; it sticks to its guns marvelously.
TIL after the band Three Dog Night covered Randy Newman's song "Mama Told Me Not To Come" and made it a No. 1 hit, Newman called the band's lead singer Cory Wells and said "I just want to thank you for putting my kids through college"
TIL after the band Three Dog Night covered Randy Newman's song "Mama Told Me Not To Come" and mad...
I have never seen it, but by all accounts it is terrible. However, I have seen the house that it built, and it is terrific.
– Michael Caine regarding Jaws: The Revenge
I made a picture called Super Mario Bros., and my six-year-old son at the time — he's now 18 — he said, 'Dad, I think you're probably a pretty good actor, but why did you play that terrible guy King Koopa in Super Mario Bros.?' and I said, 'Well Henry, I did that so you could have shoes,' and he said, 'Dad, I don't need shoes that badly.'
Dennis Hopper
TIL the guy who writes all the songs for Pixar movies wrote "Mama Told Me Not To Come."
Check out his song "Short People".
TIL in 1987, in Brazil, a ship carrying 22tons of weed in 3lb cans dumped all of it in the sea after being chased by Brazilian authorities. The cans were carried to the coastline by the tides, and most ended up being found (and used) by locals. This event came to be known as "The Summer of the Cans"
TIL in 1987, in Brazil, a ship carrying 22tons of weed in 3lb cans dumped all of it in the sea af...
22 tons of weed in 3lb cans? That's over 14,000 cans of weed. It must have looked like they went on forever into the horizon. Like some sort of Can Abyss.
Once the news spread, most cans didn’t even reach the sand – fishermen, surfers and some adventurers (and the police) would pick them up at sea.
As the load dropped at sea was immense – the estimated 22 tons would be enough to fill about 15 thousand cans – and the Federal Police seized only 2,563 cans throughout the country, people definitely had a lot to share.
That's a lot of happy fishermen.
The first time anyone has ever welcomed sea weed.
Holy shit is this actually happening? I can't think of anything witty to say but look at my username.
TIL Brazilian Doctors are Experimenting with Using Tilapia Skin Instead of Human Skin Grafts for Treatment of Severe Burn Victims
TIL Brazilian Doctors are Experimenting with Using Tilapia Skin Instead of Human Skin Grafts for ...
But not as grafts, as bandages
It is in use in the US.
Yup my wife’s niece had a terrible burn on her arm in Georgia and they used Tilapia skin
they still use leaches when trying to reattach fingers and what have you.
They work better than anything modern science has come up with..
