Post * 4d15 — Curious Curator

› added 10 years ago

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TIL that after the Kargil War (1999) between India and Pakistan, the Indian Army recommended that a Pakistani soldier be honoured for bravery, and Pakistan, accepting the recommendation, posthumously awarded him their highest military honour.

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AEpo TIL that General Electric in Schenectady, NY has the zip code 12345, and receives thousands of letters to Santa yearly from kids who guess Santa’s address. Employees there often use their breaks to write response letters.

ne4wb TIL that Gothic literature makes a distinction between “terror” and “horror.” Terror is the sense of dread and apprehension that precedes an experience, horror is the sense of revulsion after an experience.

JYWvl TIL in 1873 Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Ward advocated corset burning. She wrote, "Burn up the corsets! Nor save the whalebones, you will never need whalebones again. Make a bonfire of the cruel steels that have lorded it over your thorax and abdomens and heave a sigh of relief for your emancipation!"

4XGZR TIL that Beverly Hills, California is named after Beverly Farms, Massachusetts, which was named after the town Beverley in Yorkshire England, which came from the name "Beverlac" in the 10th century, meaning "beaver lake," because of all the beavers in the nearby river.

1aLZO TIL recent research argues that fear of spiders has cultural rather biological origins, is predominantly found in Western societies, and comes from an association between spiders and illness that started in the 10th century when the spider was blamed for the devastating epidemics that struck Europe.