Submitted by OlinKirkland t3_11ssrwl in todayilearned
TIL Hou Jing, a general during the China's North-South period, seized control of the government of the Liang dynasty by rebelling. After that, in an act of vanity, he gave himself the title of "General of the Universe, Past, Present, and Future, Commander of all Forces in the Six Directions".
en.wikipedia.orgSubmitted by zhuquanzhong t3_1278gcx in todayilearned
TIL that Kurt Cobain got the inspiration to make Nirvana's famous song "Smells Like Teen Spirit" when Kathleen Hanna, the singer of the band "Bikini Kill" wrote "Kurt smells like teen spirit" on a board. Teen Spirit was a woman's deodorant and he didn't knew it until he was done with the song.
theguardian.comSubmitted by WonderfulWanderer777 t3_126qji1 in todayilearned
TIL A coal seam in Australia is believed to have been burning for 6,000 years, making it the oldest coal fire. The site's name is Mount Wingen but is commonly called Burning Mountain and the fire is traveling south 1m per year discoloring the ground as it goes.
en.wikipedia.orgSubmitted by jamescookenotthatone t3_11xdorh in todayilearned
TIL Margaret Knight (1838-1914) invented a machine to mass produce flat-bottomed paper bags and, after winning a lawsuit against a fraudster who copied her design, the patent was issued in 1871. Her first invention was when she was 12 years old (and began working in a factory). She had 87 patents.
americanhistory.si.eduSubmitted by WonderWmn212 t3_126a0pt in todayilearned
TIL If Coca-Cola's inventor had decided to file a patent application in 1892 instead of keeping the recipe a secret, patent protection would have expired long before Pepsi ever came onto the market in 1965. Patent protection lasts 20 years at most. Trade secrets can last forever.
mondaq.comSubmitted by ethereal3xp t3_11qwpru in todayilearned
TIL that the Convair Model 118, a tentative flying car from 1947, was shelved because its prototype crashed when a test pilot mixed up the flight engine's fuel gauge with the road engine's and didn't see the former run out. While he survived, this killed interest in the project.
en.wikipedia.orgSubmitted by ShabtaiBenOron t3_11jhzes in todayilearned
TIL The Dick Van Dyke Show was originally written entirely by Carl Reiner, about stories from Reiner's life, and starred Carl Reiner. The pilot was unsuccessful so it was reworked with Dick Van Dyke playing Robert Petrie.
en.wikipedia.orgSubmitted by jamescookenotthatone t3_11yf7ff in todayilearned
Submitted by Blackmere t3_1202vfv in todayilearned