› added 7 years ago

136

TIL that of over a million ancient Sumerian texts - the earliest human writing - only 30,000 have been translated, with most sitting unread in museum warehouses for centuries

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

9Y8Yr TIL the Mormon Church justified slavery, fought against Civil Rights, and excluded black people from the priesthood, due to a belief that “black skin was a curse,” an idea that “was not officially contradicted until 2013.”
Z8jYv TIL the first European explorer to see Hawaii was Captain James Cook on Nov. 26, 1778, when he and his two ships anchored offshore of Kahului. However, he did not come ashore on Maui. As Cook sailed down Maui’s northeastern coastline, a royal double-hulled canoe approached from the Hana coastline.
b9DnQ TIL Ken Griffey Jr. attempted suicide at the age of 18, right before the start of his Hall of Fame baseball career
aw0xA TIL Tsutomu Yamaguchi survived 2 atomic bomb blasts. He was in Hiroshima on a business trip when the first bomb was dropped. He then returned to his home in Nagasaki. As he was explaining to his boss what happened, the second bomb was dropped. He was within 2 miles of ground zero both times.
AN0Po TIL the way the sun "gives" people vitamin D is by converting cholesterol in the skin to vitamin D.