› added 12 years ago

140

TIL Finnur Magnusson identified cracks in a rock as Runes and stated that they made up an epic poem about Harald Wartooth, for victory against the Swedish king Sigurd Ring at the Battle of Brávellir. Turns out he was 100% wrong, they were just naturally formed cracks and he looked quite the fool.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

rN9Re TIL that sticking out one’s tongue is a sign of respect or agreement and was often used as a greeting in traditional Tibetan culture. Apparently, a cruel ninth-century Tibetan king had a black tongue, so people stick out their tongues to show that they are not like him (and aren’t his reincarnation)
Y7dVG TIL sports announcer Howard Cosell was once in a limo with co-broadcaster Al Michaels when they stopped at a street light and saw some teens fighting. Cosell got out of the car and started commentating on the fight. The teens looked at him awestruck, stopped fighting, and asked for his autograph
KYvA6 TIL in 1952, many of Adlai Stevenson's friends and associates led a "draft Stevenson" movement to make him run for President and continued even when he told them to stop.
0yrv TIL of the Darien Gap, a thick rain forested area on the Pan-American highway that prevents people from truly driving across North and South America.
RxGa TIL that on ships at sea there is a difference between “aye aye sir” and “yes sir”. “Aye aye sir” indicates that an order has been received, is understood and will be carried out immediately. “Yes sir” would only indicate agreement to an order.