Submitted by SaiFromSd t3_10o0y1j
/f/todayilearned
TIL On land, when you are in an emergency situation, your survival instinct is usually to stay on your feet so you’re prepared to maneuver out of the danger. When you’re in the water in an emergency, that same instinctive reaction can lead to one of the most deadly accidents: foot entrapment.
nrs.comSubmitted by Rhacoon t3_zy1xk4
TIL: Samuel Byck tried to assassinate President Nixon by hijacking a plane and crashing it into the White House. Byck drove to BWI, shot a police officer, stormed a Delta aircraft and shot the two pilots. Police stopped Byck before the plane ever moved, but Nixon was in the White House at the time.
en.wikipedia.orgSubmitted by theotherbogart t3_zcs5e2
TIL African elephants can exchange information by emitting low-frequency sounds that travel dozens of miles under the ground on the savanna. The sound waves come from the animals' huge vocal cords, and distant elephants “hear” the signals with their highly sensitive feet.
kqed.orgSubmitted by iboughtarock t3_yif71y
TIL about the foreign accent syndrome (FAS), which is a speech disorder that causes a sudden change to speech so that a native speaker is perceived to speak with a “foreign” accent. FAS is usually caused by damage to the brain from a traumatic injury or a stroke.
sites.utdallas.eduSubmitted by Imaginary_Emu3462 t3_xxjm44
TIL the term "death row" comes from an assassination attempt on FDR. The shooter Giuseppe Zangara was sentenced to death, but there was already a convict awaiting execution, and FL law forbade them from sharing cells. A second cell was built, turning the "death cell" into the first "death row."
en.wikipedia.orgSubmitted by AdmiralAkbar1 t3_11xih6i
Submitted by pm-me-all-tits t3_122dcbc
TIL American ballet dancer Tanaquil Le Clercq contracted polio at age 27 in 1956 and was confined to a wheelchair. Le Clercq began studying with George Balanchine at age 12 and married him at age 23. When she was 15, Balanchine choreographed a dance for a polio benefit which presaged her illness.
en.wikipedia.orgSubmitted by WonderWmn212 t3_11du0bn