/f/todayilearned
TIL that after the American Revolution, British Sir Guy Carleton argued with George Washington who wanted Carleton to return American slaves that Carleton felt obliged to free. Carleton freed the slaves and promised that Britain would compensate the slave owners, but Britain never did.
en.wikipedia.orgSubmitted by VengefulMight t3_1182vsm
TIL that a depressed teen convinced his friend, using six made-up online characters, to kill him. Totaling over 56,000 lines of text, he told his him that his reward would be money, a job as a British secret service agent and sex with a middle-aged spy.
theguardian.comSubmitted by pentacontagon t3_1178tqk
TIL that Anne Frank's stepsister is still alive. Eva Schloss and her family lived in the same apartment block as the Franks, and she often played with Anne and Margot. She and her mother survived Auschwitz, and her mother resumed her friendship with Otto Frank after the war. They married in 1953.
en.wikipedia.orgSubmitted by derstherower t3_1177hd7
TIL about St. James Davis, a NASCAR driver, and how he was attacked by 2 chimpanzees, Buddy and Ollie while visiting his pet chimpanzee in his enclosure." St. James Davis was brutally mauled, resulting in permanent disfigurement and missing extremities."
en.wikipedia.orgSubmitted by zaphinator17 t3_1174iuz
TIL that every Saiyan name has something to do with vegetables. GOKU's Saiyan name is Kakarot, which is named after a carrot. Broly is named after broccoli. Nappa is named after a type of Chinese cabbage. Raditz is named after a radish, and Vegeta’s name is literally just half of the word vegetables
factvrse.comSubmitted by scarletcurlylove t3_116wbma
TIL the Higgs-Boson Particle, aka "the God Particle", was actually called "the Goddamn Particle" by physicists because it was so difficult to detect. Publishers forced the rename, resulting in a confusing tie to religion for the particle which is nearly universally hated by physicists.
en.wikipedia.orgSubmitted by whozitsandwhatsits t3_116w0ok
TIL: The autocorrect feature in Excel, which converts certain combinations into dates, has mangled up to 30% of published papers, causing significant issues. As a result, at least 27 gene symbols have been forced to change to prevent further errors from occurring.
nature.comSubmitted by greenappletree t3_116lwma
Submitted by HCOONa t3_116iffr
TIL Lacrosse descends from a version played by Native Americans in the 17th century. Games could last several days with as many as 1,000 players per team, on a field with goals up to 6 miles apart. Sticks were so treasured, players were often buried with them upon death.
en.wikipedia.orgSubmitted by austinthedeveloper t3_115v5ko
TIL that the founders of video game maker "Acclaim" named their company so it would be listed alphabetically before their former employer "Activision" and before "Accolade" another company founded by ex-Activison employees. Activison itself was founded by ex-Atari employees based on the same logic.
en.wikipedia.orgSubmitted by Loki-L t3_115gff7
TIL Wolfgang Mozart had a sister, Maria Anna, who was also an extremely talented child prodigy in music. Sadly, she was prevented from performing as an adult. Many of her compositions have been lost, including one Wolfgang wrote that he was in ‘awe’ of, contributing to her obscurity.
en.wikipedia.orgSubmitted by madhatter103 t3_1156jga
TIL that Clint Eastwood - at the height of his "silent and violent gunslinger" fame - starred in a big-budget western musical called Paint Your Wagon. At nearly 3 hours long, the film was not well reviewed. Eastwood's song "I Talk to the Trees" was singled out for derision.
empireonline.comSubmitted by ScissorNightRam t3_115062j