/f/todayilearned
TIL Apollo 15 astronauts Scott, Worden and Irwin secretly carried 400 unauthorized postal covers in one of Scott’s spacesuit pockets to the Moon aboard the Falcon. They took payments for carrying the covers; were reprimanded by NASA and never flew in space again.
en.wikipedia.orgSubmitted by thenerdknuckle t3_yigtnx
TIL about the first Crowdfunded Indian movie Manthan (Hindi), which was about the dairy cooperative pioneer Verghese Kurien who started the "White revolution" in India. The film was entirely funded by 500,000 dairy farmers each contributing Rs 2, showing the success of "collective might".
en.wikipedia.orgSubmitted by RealityCheck18 t3_xu19mv
TIL The most abundant wild bird on planet earth is the Red-billed Quelea. The birds fly in flocks of 2 million or more and in such tightly synchronized masses they can be mistaken at a distance for clouds of smoke. Single colonies can cover hundreds of acres, totaling tens of millions of birds.
audubon.orgSubmitted by Bluest_waters t3_11ec669
Submitted by DeReMetallica t3_113gtt4
TIL a sultan of Morocco, Isma‘il ibn Sharif, owned a private army called "The Black Guard" comprised of West African and Haratin slave-soldiers. Considered more loyal than the locals because of their lack of tribal affiliation, Isma‘il's black soldiers formed the bulk of his army, numbering at 150k.
en.wikipedia.orgSubmitted by delano1998 t3_10tw9nu
TIL as an alternative to Brigham Young’s wagon train trip to Salt Lake, Sam Brannan chartered a ship Brooklyn to take 238 passengers from New York, around the Cape Horn to Hawaii and then what is now San Francisco. Brannon then walked overland through Utah and met Young in what is now Wyoming.
en.wikipedia.orgSubmitted by triviafrenzy t3_1163z9q
TIL that Air Tahiti Nui Flight 64 holds the record as the world's longest domestic flight. The flight was between Papeete in French Polynesia and Paris (15,715 km/9,765 mi) taking 16h20. The current longest domestic flight is AF647 between Saint-Denis, Réunion and Paris (9,349 km/5,809 mi/11h40)
en.wikipedia.orgSubmitted by SteO153 t3_11akxj1
TIL The Marvel No-Prize is a empty envelope that Marvel awarded fans for "meritorious service to the cause of Marveldom". Typically it was won by submitting an explanation for an error in a comic, but rules varied from author to author. The prize was inspired by George R. R. Martin.
en.wikipedia.orgSubmitted by jamescookenotthatone t3_119vmlu
TIL about the Köln Concert, a 1974 piano recital by Keith Jarrett. The venue’s piano was smaller than specified, was out of tune, and had malfunctioning pedals, forcing Jarrett to improvise around its shortcomings. The concert recording is the best-selling solo jazz and best-selling piano album.
en.wikipedia.orgSubmitted by EtOHMartini t3_11ekq9o
TIL that the Fritos Company began when Charles Doolin bought a corn chip recipe, ricer, and 19 retail accounts from a corn chip maker for $100, which Doolin borrowed from his mother. His mother's kitchen was the first office of the Frito Company, which had a capacity of 10 lb of chips daily.
en.wikipedia.orgSubmitted by jdward01 t3_10lzk33
TIL At the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis, Missouri, an angry mob burned down an arena and rioted following the last minute cancelation of a bullfight. Manuel Cervera Prieto was later murdered over lack of payment by fellow bullfighter Carleton Bass.
en.wikipedia.orgSubmitted by jamescookenotthatone t3_10hpj7e
Submitted by Spudcommando t3_10obp5t
TIL that the NYC neighborhood of Marble Hill is part of Manhattan despite not being connected to Manhattan Island. Instead it is connected to the Bronx. It was separated from the island of Manhattan by the construction of the Harlem Ship Canal in 1895
en.wikipedia.orgSubmitted by IAmDavidGurney t3_10eucva