31.
TIL that Gaddafi had a serious obsession with Condoleezza Rice, showering her with over $200,000 in gifts and having a famous local composer write a song for her called “Black Flower in the White House”
32.
TIL Thomas Midgley Jr, who helped invent leaded petrol, once poured the lead additive over his hands and inhaled its fumes to prove it was safe. He was later diagnosed with lead poisoning… for the second time.
33.
TIL that in 1999, a group of hackers discovered that they could enter any Hotmail account by simply entering “eh” as a password. It was fixed by Microsoft within two hours.
34.
TIL that Beverly Hills, California is named after Beverly Farms, Massachusetts, which was named after the town Beverley in Yorkshire England, which came from the name “Beverlac” in the 10th century, meaning “beaver lake,” because of all the beavers in the nearby river
35.
TIL that in 1967 the Soviet cosmonaut, Vladimir Komarov died in an accident on the Soyuz 1 mission, making him the first human to die in a space flight. Komarov was aware of the faulty design of the shuttle and specifically asked the authorities to give him an open casket funeral after the mission
36.
TIL that in 2005 a Russian private was forced to squat for four hours as part of a brutal army hazing ritual and the lack of blood flow resulted in his genitals and legs requiring amputation sparking public outcry in Russia
37.
TIL that limping was a fad in Victorian England. Young women admired the genuine limp of Alexandra of Denmark, bride of the Prince of Wales. So, women went around fake limping, dubbed the “Alexandra Limp.” Shopkeepers at the time sold pairs of shoes with one high heel and one low.
38.
TIL scientists “hacked” the genetic code of brewer’s yeast to produce cannabis compounds. They inserted genes from cannabis plants into the yeast’s genetic code which allowed it to produce CBD and THC. Their end goal is to allow large scale cannabinoid production without cultivation.
39.
TIL According to a survey, 43% of American Cardiologists are overweight to obese.
40.
TIL Jane Stanford, founder of Stanford University, was murdered by strychnine poisoning. The president of the university at the time, David Starr Jordan, was suspected of covering up the murder. The killer was never found.
