› added 10 years ago

259

TIL Israel is roughly the same size as New Jersey by area.

Read more iris.org.il

via reddit.com

XNdX TIL drunk Japanese astronomers sent an email to another solar system in 1983 that contained the molecular formula for alcohol and ‘cheers!’ in English and kanji. It arrived at the star in 1999
VM4bk TIL the first gladiatorial game of Ancient Rome was held in the city's cattle market in 264 BCE, where funeral celebrations for a former consul included combat between six war captives. Initially competitions of courage to honor the dead, gladiator matches were not publicly sponsored for 160 years.
xVv9k TIL that Vanilla Ice wrote “Ice Ice Baby” at the age of 16, and that its music video was shot on a budget of only $8,000.
O5dX TIL that white on black murders make up 4% of all homicides in the US. Black on white murders make up 8%.
vPdBL TIL an orangutan named Fu Manchu figured out how to escape his enclosure at a zoo by picking the lock on a door. He did it repeatedly for weeks as zoo staff was stumped about how and tried every measure to prevent it only to finally catch Fu Manchu in the act using a piece of wire he kept hidden.