TIL that Pad Thai, the national dish of Thailand, is actually not a traditional dish, but was invented, standardized and promoted by the Thai government, and imposed upon the people, as part of a broad cultural effort to establish a sense of national identity.
http://bit.ly/2WaAdqT
Submitted May 01, 2019 at 06:59PM by lefteyedspy
via reddit http://bit.ly/2V9oCeY
http://bit.ly/2WaAdqT
Submitted May 01, 2019 at 06:59PM by lefteyedspy
via reddit http://bit.ly/2V9oCeY
South China Morning Post
History of pad Thai: how the stir-fried noodle dish was invented by the Thai government
Its history is as political as it is delicious. Dive into the history of this not-so-Thai noodle dish that was born of politics and nationalism almost 80 years ago.
TIL After studios refused to fund Monty Python and The Holy Grail, the bands Genesis, Pink Floyd, and Led Zeppelin contributed £20,000 each as "a good tax write off"
http://bit.ly/2RDmWZs
Submitted May 01, 2019 at 09:58PM by NanomachineMonkey
via reddit http://bit.ly/2H1UvN1
http://bit.ly/2RDmWZs
Submitted May 01, 2019 at 09:58PM by NanomachineMonkey
via reddit http://bit.ly/2H1UvN1
Wikipedia
Monty Python and the Holy Grail - Wikipedia
1975 British comedy film
TIL that in 2012, after the Kazakhstan's shooting team won a medal at the championships in Kuwait, instead of the country's national anthem being played, the joke national anthem from the Borat movie was played.
https://bbc.in/2Lg5VC8
Submitted May 01, 2019 at 06:01PM by FlashGordon89
via reddit http://bit.ly/2vCxqe9
https://bbc.in/2Lg5VC8
Submitted May 01, 2019 at 06:01PM by FlashGordon89
via reddit http://bit.ly/2vCxqe9
BBC News
Borat tune stuns Kazakh medallist
A Kazakh shooting gold medallist is stunned as the comedy national anthem from the film Borat is played for her victory in Kuwait instead of the real one.
TIL Alex Trebek didn't take a single sick day for the first 34 years of Jeopardy
http://bit.ly/1lJBMG7
Submitted May 01, 2019 at 11:31PM by Ericajaneli
via reddit http://bit.ly/2V6mx3u
http://bit.ly/1lJBMG7
Submitted May 01, 2019 at 11:31PM by Ericajaneli
via reddit http://bit.ly/2V6mx3u
Guinness World Records
Video: Jeopardy! star Alex Trebek sets record for most game show episodes hosted
We catch up with the man with all the questions ahead of tonight’s history-making show
TIL Asphalt pavements are America's most recycled product. Reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) can be recycled into pavement that is as high, or even higher, in quality as pavements made of all-virgin materials. And, the same material can be recycled again and again; it never loses its value.
http://bit.ly/2GOadek
Submitted May 02, 2019 at 01:13AM by methsor
via reddit http://bit.ly/2Vai3ZS
http://bit.ly/2GOadek
Submitted May 02, 2019 at 01:13AM by methsor
via reddit http://bit.ly/2Vai3ZS
www.asphaltpavement.org
Asphalt for Recycling and Energy Reduction
National Asphalt Pavement Association
TIL During WWI, cotton was in high demand for the manufacture of uniforms and explosives. For bandages, doctors turned to using sphagnum moss. It can hold up to 22 times its own weight in liquid -- twice as absorptive as cotton. The moss is also antiseptic, making the surrounding environment acidic
http://bit.ly/2LjslCj
Submitted May 02, 2019 at 12:19AM by chercheur17
via reddit http://bit.ly/2VECjlN
http://bit.ly/2LjslCj
Submitted May 02, 2019 at 12:19AM by chercheur17
via reddit http://bit.ly/2VECjlN
Smithsonian
World War I: 100 Years Later
The same extraordinary properties that make this plant an “ecosystem engineer” also helped save human lives
TIL: Avatar (2009 Film) required 4,000 servers, 35,000 CPU Cores, 104 TB of RAM, and 3 PB of Network Area Storage in a 10,000 sq ft farm to render the movies effects
http://bit.ly/2GTPmaO
Submitted May 01, 2019 at 06:19PM by jinxrr
via reddit http://bit.ly/2LpLuCS
http://bit.ly/2GTPmaO
Submitted May 01, 2019 at 06:19PM by jinxrr
via reddit http://bit.ly/2LpLuCS
Wikipedia
Avatar (2009 film) - Wikipedia
2009 American 3D epic science fiction film directed by James Cameron
TIL that tea used to be consumed only as a medicine in England, but when people saw the Portuguese queen drinking tea regularly, it became popular there too.
https://bbc.in/2wauFBU
Submitted May 02, 2019 at 02:44AM by OtherScorpionfish
via reddit http://bit.ly/2IW8EP5
https://bbc.in/2wauFBU
Submitted May 02, 2019 at 02:44AM by OtherScorpionfish
via reddit http://bit.ly/2IW8EP5
Bbc
The true story behind England’s tea obsession
A stiff upper lip and an almost genetic love of tea are what makes the English English. Except that the latter was actually influenced by a Portuguese woman.
TIL that the character of Lois Lane was based on pioneering investigative journalist Nellie Bly, known for her undercover exposé as an inmate of a mental institution in 1887. She also reported on Europe's Eastern Front during World War I and took a trip around the world in a record-breaking 72 days.
http://bit.ly/1CQRq8p
Submitted May 02, 2019 at 12:25AM by ralphbernardo
via reddit http://bit.ly/2VECgGD
http://bit.ly/1CQRq8p
Submitted May 02, 2019 at 12:25AM by ralphbernardo
via reddit http://bit.ly/2VECgGD
Wikipedia
Nellie Bly - Wikipedia
American journalist
TIL a mere 12,000 years ago, a species closely related to the modern humans had been living on an Indonesian island. They used fire and stone tools of the sophisticated upper paleolithic tradition, yet were only about 3.5 feet tall and weighed around 25kg (55lb).
http://bit.ly/2Wig5Dl
Submitted May 02, 2019 at 08:33AM by coinmarshal
via reddit http://bit.ly/2DJSN1N
http://bit.ly/2Wig5Dl
Submitted May 02, 2019 at 08:33AM by coinmarshal
via reddit http://bit.ly/2DJSN1N
Wikipedia
Homo floresiensis - Wikipedia
Extinct species of the genus Homo
TIL that humans weren't the first species to discover agriculture. That honor belongs to multiple species of ants (and termites) who beat us to it by 50-60 million years.
http://bit.ly/1PkzInz
Submitted May 02, 2019 at 02:35AM by phthalo-azure
via reddit http://bit.ly/2vxARD6
http://bit.ly/1PkzInz
Submitted May 02, 2019 at 02:35AM by phthalo-azure
via reddit http://bit.ly/2vxARD6
Wikipedia
Ant–fungus mutualism - Wikipedia
Ant–fungus mutualism is a symbiosis seen in certain ant and fungal species, in which ants actively cultivate fungus much like humans farm crops as a food source. In some species, the ants and fungi are dependent on each other for survival. The leafcutter…
TIL the oldest living human-planted tree in the world with a known planting date is the sacred fig tree "Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi", planted in 288 BC.
http://bit.ly/1e08ZvP
Submitted May 02, 2019 at 01:40PM by Denncity
via reddit http://bit.ly/2Y7dixj
http://bit.ly/1e08ZvP
Submitted May 02, 2019 at 01:40PM by Denncity
via reddit http://bit.ly/2Y7dixj
Wikipedia
Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi - Wikipedia
Sacred tree in Sri Lanka
TIL in 2004 215 restaurants in the Chinese province of Guizhou were closed after being charged with lacing their food with opium to make customers addicted. In 2016, 35 restaurants in the entire country were found doing the same thing.
https://ind.pn/2vwPQgu
Submitted May 02, 2019 at 03:04PM by YourOwnBiggestFan
via reddit http://bit.ly/2PGVCW6
https://ind.pn/2vwPQgu
Submitted May 02, 2019 at 03:04PM by YourOwnBiggestFan
via reddit http://bit.ly/2PGVCW6
The Independent
Chinese restaurants shut down after seasoning food with opium to 'hook' customers
35 restaurants across China have been found illegally using opium as seasoning in their food, state officials say. Five restaurants are being prosecuted over the findings, whilst 30 more are under
TIL Leonardo Da Vinci's Salvator Mundi was sold at a New Orleans art gallery for $10,000 in 2005 and ended up selling for $450,000,000 in 2017. It's the most expensive painting ever sold.
http://bit.ly/2gHowDC
Submitted May 02, 2019 at 04:34AM by Monty7384
via reddit http://bit.ly/2IUXycV
http://bit.ly/2gHowDC
Submitted May 02, 2019 at 04:34AM by Monty7384
via reddit http://bit.ly/2IUXycV
Wikipedia
Salvator Mundi (Leonardo)
Salvator Mundi is a painting by Italian Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci dated to c. 1500. Long thought to be a copy of a lost original veiled with overpainting, it was rediscovered, restored, and included in a major Leonardo exhibition at the National…
TIL Neuroscience shows people can’t actually read and listen at the same time so having too much text on a PowerPoint slide is useless
http://bit.ly/2Ls9VPI
Submitted May 02, 2019 at 03:47PM by yvo84
via reddit http://bit.ly/2ZR6F3F
http://bit.ly/2Ls9VPI
Submitted May 02, 2019 at 03:47PM by yvo84
via reddit http://bit.ly/2ZR6F3F
Pursuit
How neuroscience beats PowerPoint coma
Here are five ways to blitz your next PowerPoint presentation – it's all about the neuroscience, says a University of Melbourne researcher.
TIL halting sneezing via blocking the nostrils and mouth is a dangerous manoeuvre. It may lead to numerous complications, such as pneudomediastinum (air trapped in the chest between both lungs), perforation of the tympanic membrane (perforated eardrum), and even rupture of a cerebral aneurysm.
http://bit.ly/2vzCmAw
Submitted May 02, 2019 at 02:54PM by MysticPato
via reddit http://bit.ly/2IUMeh5
http://bit.ly/2vzCmAw
Submitted May 02, 2019 at 02:54PM by MysticPato
via reddit http://bit.ly/2IUMeh5
The Telegraph
Don’t hold in a sneeze, warn doctors. It could be the death of you
When sitting in a quiet theatre or a packed train, stifling a sneeze by holding the nose and closing the mouth may seem like the courteous option.
TIL of Hannah Szenes, a Jewish parachutist dropped by the British into Yugoslavia during WWII to help rescue Hungarian Jews about to be deported to Auschwitz. Arrested, imprisoned and tortured, she refused to reveal details of her mission or her transmitter code. She was eventually executed.
http://bit.ly/2DJUGeT
Submitted May 02, 2019 at 08:46AM by beerbellybegone
via reddit http://bit.ly/2UPatPb
http://bit.ly/2DJUGeT
Submitted May 02, 2019 at 08:46AM by beerbellybegone
via reddit http://bit.ly/2UPatPb
Wikipedia
Hannah Szenes - Wikipedia
Jewish poet and anti-nazi fighter in World War II
TIL Farmers sometimes put goldfish in a horses water trough to control mosquito and other insect larvae from producing
http://bit.ly/2IVSPrG
Submitted May 02, 2019 at 07:29PM by UsedToBeCoolish
via reddit http://bit.ly/2JbAGFq
http://bit.ly/2IVSPrG
Submitted May 02, 2019 at 07:29PM by UsedToBeCoolish
via reddit http://bit.ly/2JbAGFq
Horse Network
Goldfish in Your Water Trough?
When I was a kid, I remember winning a goldfish at a school carnival (what a thrill!). I took it home and put it in a tank in my room, and amazingly, that thing lived for nearly a decade. I would brag that it was my great care-taking skills, but it’s more…
TIL of Joseph Medicine Crow who earned the noscript "Chief" by completing the four coups of leading a war party, touching an enemy without killing him, taking an enemy's weapon, and stealing an enemy's horse - all against the Nazis in WWII.
http://bit.ly/2Wii0Yk
Submitted May 02, 2019 at 08:07PM by ManOfLaBook
via reddit http://bit.ly/2DEGgN9
http://bit.ly/2Wii0Yk
Submitted May 02, 2019 at 08:07PM by ManOfLaBook
via reddit http://bit.ly/2DEGgN9
Military.com
Badass of the Week: Joe Medicine Crow
At 98 years old, Joseph Medicine Crow-High Bird is the last surviving War Chief of the Crow Indians.
TIL Australian prime minister Harold Holt loved swimming and diving so much that when his press secretary expressed concern about this he said, "Look, what are the odds that a PM would drown or be eaten by a shark?". In 1967, Holt went for a swim in the ocean and was never seen again.
http://bit.ly/2WfjXVs
Submitted May 02, 2019 at 06:49PM by MistressGravity
via reddit http://bit.ly/2DJOPq6
http://bit.ly/2WfjXVs
Submitted May 02, 2019 at 06:49PM by MistressGravity
via reddit http://bit.ly/2DJOPq6
Wikipedia
Disappearance of Harold Holt - Wikipedia
On 17 December 1967, Harold Holt, the Prime Minister of Australia, disappeared while swimming in the sea near Portsea, Victoria. A massive search operation was mounted in and around Cheviot Beach, but his body was never recovered. Holt was eventually declared…
TIL In 2012 when Tom Lehrer gave 2Chainz permission to use his song, the 85 year old stated "As sole copyright owner of 'The Old Dope Peddler', I grant you motherfuckers permission to do this. Please give my regards to Mr. Chainz, or may I call him 2?"
http://bit.ly/1nyRSyz
Submitted May 02, 2019 at 09:50PM by socool111
via reddit http://bit.ly/2US4dX7
http://bit.ly/1nyRSyz
Submitted May 02, 2019 at 09:50PM by socool111
via reddit http://bit.ly/2US4dX7
Wikipedia
Tom Lehrer - Wikipedia
American singer-songwriter and mathematician