› added 11 months ago

40

TIL El Cid had a horse named Babieca, which apparently means stupid, and after his death in order to scare the Moors they sent Babieca out with El Cid's corpse to lead the troops to victory.

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69XVY TIL that in 1972 school backpacks as known today were first used at the University of Washington. Existing backpacks for day hikers were modified by Jansport, at the time a Seattle-based company.
KOj4a TIL The first cat in space was a black and white stray named Félicette. She travelled on a French rocket Veronique and stayed 15 minutes in space. She returned safely home, before being euthanized by scientists to research the brain's activity after travelling to space.
bxyQ TIL that J. K. Rowling changed her mind about the title of the 4th Harry Potter book twice. Until 12 days before publication, the already publicized working title was “Harry Potter and the Doomspell Tournament”, which turned to “Triwizard Tournament” and then “Goblet of Fire”
ka1W TIL Greek scientist Eratosthenes was nicknamed ‘beta’ because he was second-best in the world in almost every field
R5kR4 TIL the first chiropractor was a Canadian who claimed he received a message from a ghost