› added 11 years ago

245

TIL: In Osama Bin-Laden’s 2002 letter to America, the first reason he states he attacked us, is our actions in Israel and Palestine.

Read more theguardian.com

via reddit.com

YyYd TIL: PETA is requesting a bar in Britain change its name from “Ye olde fighting cock” to “Ye olde clever cock” to better portray chickens as the “intelligent, sensitive and social animals they are”
1akX8 TIL The Ceratodontimorpha is a "living fossil" fish with a highly specialized respiratory system to switch from gills to real lung when it crawls on dry land. They are also capable of surviving seasonal drying by burrowing into mud, secrete a mucus which encloses them in a cocoon...for years.
LQAN9 TIL after the 30 years war, in which up to 8 million people died across Europe, living standards improved for the survivors. Wages in Germany increased by 40% when comparing pre and post war figures
VBJbk TIL a "bit" is equal to 12.5¢, and since the US has no coin worth a bit, "two-bit" (equal to one quarter) became a way of describing something cheap or unworthy, as in "two-bit hustler" or "two-bit operation."
pYJlA TIL people tape tennis balls to the back of their pajamas to prevent snoring