› added 11 years ago

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TIL In Australia no one has died from spider bites since 1979, and only about 7 people die a year from combined snake/shark/crocodile/jellyfish “attacks”.

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PYEBg TIL that none of the actors in the infamous “War of the Worlds” radio broadcast from 1938 intended for the citizens of America to take it as seriously as they did, considering that many of the scripts were improvised and most of the sound effects came from houseware items
x6vW5 TIL Diogenes was a Greek philosopher who was known for living in a ceramic jar, disrupting Plato's lessons by eating loudly, urinating on people who insulted him, and pointing his middle finger at random people.
5YpD9 TIL whales spouting water out of blowholes is a common error propagated in children's books and movies (the whale would be drowning if it did so). A 2016 scientific survey of children's books featuring whales and cetaceans revealed 74/116 had factual errors, including almost half of the non-fiction.
WJWd TIL that author Terry Pratchett can no longer read.
mxLJY TIL the expression "Polish parliament", an idiom referring to chaos and general disorder in an assembly, is used in all of the Scandinavian languages.