› added 10 years ago

66

TIL that Spiral stairs in medieval times were typically wound in a clockwise direction, to place attacking swordsmen (who were most often right-handed) at a disadvantage.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

GAY9g TIL that during the Fall of Tenochtitlan, the Conquistadors were joined by thousands of native allies who resented the Aztecs
QJllL TIL that when some Hawaiians stole a cutter vessel from James Cook, he kidnapped one of their chiefs, expecting them to submit like the many other tribes he had encountered. The Hawaiians proceeded to kill Cook and 4 of his men.
nlVP TIL The crime fiction author Patricia Cornwell was called “monstrously stupid” by the curator of a British museum for destroying a painting by Walter Sickert in search of proof he was Jack the Ripper
awjX9 TIL that lions are a species that mate very often through the course of four days, resulting in an average of 50 copulations per day.
W7d0B TIL that Edgar Allan Poe became a writer after a failed military career. He enlisted in the US Army in 1827. He failed as a cadet at West Point, and declared his intention to become a writer. His first works (a collection of poems) were written while in the Army