11.
TIL that in Churchill, Canada, locals keep their car doors unlocked in order to provide other residents a quick escape, should they encounter a polar bear
12.
TIL in the mid 1890s, Mary Whiton Caulkins completed all requirements towards a PhD in Psychology, but Harvard University refused to award her that degree because she was a woman.
13.
TIL: The inventor of shopping carts, Sylvan Goldman, had to hire “decoy shoppers” to wheel the carts around stores and demonstrate their convenience, due to not catching on initially.
14.
TIL that octopuses have copper-based blood rather than iron-based blood…which makes their blood blue in color. (Incidentally, they also have three hearts to pump that blood.)
15.
TIL that according to the U.S. Department of Education, 54% of U.S. adults lack proficiency in literacy, reading below the equivalent of a sixth-grade level.
16.
TIL dolphins sleep with one eye open. Because they have to periodically go up for air and also be aware of predators, they are able to rest only half of their brain at a time and stay always somewhat conscious.
17.
TIL About the “murder bottle”. Many Victorian mothers would use a self feeding bottle to give their babies milk instead of breastfeeding. These bottles were made of earthenware & glass & were incredibly hard to clean which caused severe bacteria build up & caused the deaths of thousands of babies.
18.
TIL of the Lodz Ghetto, where at one point 20000 ‘useless eaters’, mainly children under 10, were rounded up and taken away from their families to be exterminated. Many parents committed suicide.
19.
TIL of Titanic survivor Frankie Goldsmith. His father died during the sinking, and when he and his mother arrived in America they settled in Detroit near Navin Field (Tiger Stadium). He never attended a game due to the cheers of the crowd reminding him of the cries of the dying people in the water.
20.
TIL about Ismail al-jazari wrote the “Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices” where he described 50 mechanical devices along with instructions on creating them. He has been described as the father of robotics and modern day engineering.
