› added 6 years ago

254

TIL A 60-year-old man attempted to invoke the ancient rite of trial by combat instead of paying a minor motoring fine

Read more telegraph.co.uk

via reddit.com

GANxG TIL from the 1920s-2000s, some South Koreans believed running an electric fan in a room without an open window would lead to death
y8D8 TIL 19 states in America have laws in place to discourage building of local/community Internet services because big ISPs lobby against it.
gMZ1L TIL that the Dancing Plant (Codariocalyx motorius) will move its leaves when subjected to loud music, but we do not know exactly how and why it does this.
6E4oJ TIL JFK’s PT-109 patrol boat came under attack near the Solomon Islands, and sunk. Swam 3.5 miles to the island. He then etched an SOS message into a coconut shell, asked two natives to deliver it to a nearby base in order to arrange for their rescue. He later turned the shell into a paper weight.
Zpv0o TIL that scientists used a dating method to show a Viking ax cut trees on the North American continent exactly 1000 years ago, in 1021 C.E. This dating method uses a spike in solar radiation that left a mark in tree rings around the world. This proves the Vikings arrived before Christopher Columbus.