› added 4 years ago

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TIL the longest papal election took 3 years (1268-1271), saw three electors die and one resign, and led to the creation of papal conclave rules which were designed to speed up elections.

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XWa6 TIL the difference between herbs and spices: herbs come from the leaf of a plant, while spices come from other parts such as roots, bark and seeds. So cilantro is an herb (coriander leaf) while coriander is a spice (coriander seed).
vPeKK TIL about Onfim, a small boy from Novogorod who lived in the 13th century. Some of his writing exercises and drawings have survived on 17 separate pieces of birch bark. He drew horses and knights and messages to his friends. Nothing else is known of his life or his fate.
XOPr TIL crows will crush an ant and rub it all over themselves like perfume–the formic acid in the ants helps ward off parasites.
j69LX TIL there were vacuum cleaners before electricity was common. They were manually pumped while vacuuming.
8aY6P TIL The year is not actually 365 days long, they are roughly 365.25 days long, so that's why every 4 years we have a leap year with 366 days.