11.
TIL of Lady Lucy Houston, a British philanthropist who, after WWI, recognized the need for a strong Air Force… when the British government refused, she funded development of what became the Spitfire. She passed before WWII, and never saw how much that investment paid off.
12.
TIL that a guy drove 3.25 million miles with his Volvo that he bought in 1966 until his death in 2018
13.
TIL, While alcohol made from apples is called cider, alcohol made from pears is called “Perry”
14.
TIL: President Nixon, wife Pat, and Henry Kissinger took lessons and practiced for months to learn to use chopsticks properly, in preparation for the dinner banquet on his visit to China in 1972
15.
TIL James Blunt(singer) developed scurvy in university when he ate only meat for two months ‘out of principle’ to annoy vegetarian classmates
16.
TIL that Filipino churches built during Spain’s colonial period used millions of egg whites in the concrete to make it more durable. This is also why Filipino desserts often use lots of egg yolks- many were developed to use up all the extra yolks from construction projects
17.
TIL the sex of alligator hatchlings is based purely on temperature while incubating. At 86F or lower, the babies will all be female; at 93F or higher, they will all be male. The mother can sense these changes in temperature and will alter the nest to maintain an optimum temperature.
18.
TIL The Vatican has its own telescope staffed by priests, and has previously been given awards for the pursuit of scientific research.
19.
TIL that in 1939 an experiment was conducted at the University of Iowa on orphans in which the purpose was to induce stuttering in otherwise normally speaking children. Dubbed the “monster study”, it caused lifelong psychological issues in some of the subjects.
20.
TIL David Lucas, a producer of the 1976 rock hit “Don’t Fear The Reaper”, really did want more cowbell, while band members felt he was crazy. In a 2005 interview, the bassist recalled that the cowbell “really pulled the track together”.
