Homepage TIL Clyde Tombaugh discovered Pluto in 1930 and further investigated it across his lifetime. He died in 1997 aged 90, less than a decade before the New Horizons launch to Pluto. To honour his wishes his ashes were launched inside the spacecraft, making it the longest post mortem fight ever recorded. (theverge.com)
TIL Patricia Demauro walked to a craps table at Atlantic City's Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa with $100. Four hours and 18 minutes later, Demauro had rolled the World Record for Craps Rolls. She rolled 154 times, the odds of accomplishing this is 1 in 1.56 trillion. (content.time.com)
submitted by DrawFluent
TIL about Judith Catchpole, a young maidservant in the colony of Maryland, who was tried in 1656 for witchcraft and killing her newborn child. The judge summoned an all-female jury, who determined that Judith did not kill her child - in fact, there were no signs that Judith had even been pregnant. (en.wikipedia.org)
submitted by WouldbeWanderer
TIL in Excel ’95, if you follow a series of complex steps, a window called the “Hall of Tortured Souls” appears. In this reference to Doom, you can roam a 3D, first-person environment and discover a room with the names of Excel ’95’s developers and a low-resolution photo of the team. (howtogeek.com)
submitted by haddock420
TIL that Britain's worst nuclear accident, would have been much worse, were it not for Sir John Douglas Cockcroft. Whom insisted on installing filters onto the exhaust shaft of the Windscale Nuclear Power Plant. When the accident happened the radioactive dust was reduced by 95%. (bbc.com)
submitted by VeryCriticalCritic2
TIL that in the film Psycho (1960), a concern for the censors, was an actresses flushing a toilet, with its contents (torn-up note paper) fully visible the first time. No flushing toilet had appeared in mainstream film and television in the United States at that time. (en.wikipedia.org)
submitted by exmoor456
TIL that after Booth assassinated Lincoln by shooting him the back of the head, the largest manhunt in US history, involving thousands of troops and countless civilians, tracked him down to a barn. As he attempted escape, Sergeant Boston Corbett killed Booth by shooting him in the back of the head. (en.wikipedia.org)
submitted by geekteam6
TIL in 1995 Hayao Miyazaki directed a cyberpunk shortfilm for a rock song after having writer's block. He purposely misinterpreted the lyrics to make the video cryptic to evoke creative interpretations among viewers. SciFi writers and magazines called it "the most perfect short science fantasy film" (en.wikipedia.org)
submitted by berutto
TIL that Paul McCartney's first Hofner bass used on iconic Beatles recordings was stolen from him at Twickenham Film Studios in 1969 and has never been found. This particular model was only produced for four months and is one of the most sought after instruments in rock history (hofner.com)
submitted by lijdi
TIL the great smog of London in 1952 was so bad that pedestrians couldn't even see their feet. Some of the 4,000 who died in the 5 days it lasted didn't suffer lung problems – they fell into the Thames and drowned because they could not see the river (theguardian.com)
submitted by Scrolling2Oblivian10
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TIL about Dorothy Levitt, one of the first British female racing drivers. In her column for women she advised women on a car to buy, how to dress while driving, and items to bring, including gloves, an extra handkerchief, a clean veil, a powder-puff, hair-pins, a hand mirror, chocolates, and a gun. (smithsonianmag.com)
TIL that until 1964, Mr. Potato Head toys were meant to be used with real potatoes. The toy was shipped with “plastic facial pieces,” which had sharp ends that had to be forcibly inserted into a potato (not included), and presented both choking and stabbing hazards for small children. (pbs.org)
submitted by bearjew64
TIL There is a monument to Nikola Tesla on the American side of Niagara Falls. The statue was a gift from Yugoslavia, and commemorates the inspiration Tesla felt from viewing the falls as he went on to be part of the team that invented the first alternating-current hydroelectric power plant. (atlasobscura.com)
submitted by zorter
TIL of people who drill holes into their skulls and advocate the health benefits. They call it "Trepanning" and believe it can benefit brain health and mood disorders. Two men in Utah were charged for performing the procedure on a woman without a medical license. There is no evidence of benefit. (en.wikipedia.org)
submitted by ImMikePossibly