› added 10 years ago

243

TIL There was a con artist who was so good, he sold the Eiffel Tower. Twice.

Read more smithsonianmag.com

via reddit.com

PYvme TIL there are three species of wasp from Papua New Guinea that for some reason are each named after a presenter from Top Gear; Kereveta clarksoni, Kereveta hammoni and Kerevata jamesmayi
EkJ0 TIL the female equivalent to the word “phallic” is “yonic.”
ZplEo TIL the origin of the word "bear" is "brown one". It's believed that there was a taboo around saying its name directly for fear of accidentally summoning one.
d8okZ TIL a Japanese company gives its workers up to 10 paid days of bereavement leave if their favourite "oshi" (idol singer) is retiring or getting married, and up to 3 days for secondary or lower-ranked "oshi". They also fast-track approvals for employees to leave work early for their oshi's concerts
loDZG TIL that Jaws 2 was almost a prequel about the USS Indianapolis, the WW2 sinking/shark attack that killed hundreds of sailors and that Quint describes in the original Jaws