Contact is a 1985 science fiction novel by American scientist Carl Sagan. It deals with the theme of contact between humanity and a more technologically advanced, extraterrestrial life form. It ranked No. 7 on the 1985 U.S. bestseller list. The novel originated…

Posted in r/todayilearned by u/Tokyono • 3,322 points and 134 comments

People l Observations l Curiosities

“For a consumer to somehow glean that this tip is in fact just subsidizing what the company would have paid on the back end is a completely deceptive practice,” said one consumer advocate.

Robert Laurel Crippen (born September 11, 1937) is an American retired naval officer and aviator, test pilot, aerospace engineer, and retired astronaut. He traveled into space four times: as Pilot of STS-1 in April 1981, the first Space Shuttle mission; and…

An English translation of 'De tranquillitate animi' (Greek text linked). Part of a very large site on classical Antiquity.

Jar Jar Binks is a fictional character from the Star Wars saga created by George Lucas. A major character in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, he also has a smaller role in Episode II: Attack of the Clones, and a one-line cameo in Episode III: Revenge…

The grass is almost always greener to women, for starters, a new study says—and such differences could have roots deep in human evolution.

hypothesized effect of blood lead levels on criminal behavior

Tlaloc - Learn about this god of rain, fertility, and lightening. How could the ancient Aztecs appease this god?

memorial in Postman's Park, London

5. Draco Was Applauded to Death Draco the Lawgiver (flourished 7th century BC) was an Ancient Athenian legislator who reformed the city’s legal system with law codes and courts to enforce them, replacing traditional tribal oral laws and blood feuds. The Athenians…

American actor, comedian, director and producer

A liquor store is a retail shop that predominantly sells prepackaged alcoholic beverages — typically in bottles — intended to be consumed off the store's premises. Depending on region and local idiom (social issue), they may also be called bottle store,…

The election of the president and the vice president of the United States is an indirect election in which citizens of the United States who are registered to vote in one of the 50 U.S. states or in Washington, D.C. cast ballots not directly for those offices…

Theresienstadt was used by the Schutzstaffel (SS) as a "model ghetto" for fooling Red Cross representatives about the ongoing Holocaust and the Nazi plan to murder all Jews. The Nazified German Red Cross visited the ghetto in 1943 and filed the only accurate…

"If you don't want to look at the building, look at this."

Over 450 years later, Hans Steininger's deadly facial hair is still on display.

Can they really police your feet?

Bob Dylan showed up, sparked up, and changed the Beatles' lives (and ours) forever, on this day in 1964 (so the story goes)!