› added 5 years ago

95

TIL the Chinese referred to the Roman Empire as "Great China" (Daqin) because they thought of Rome as a civilized counterpart to the Chinese Empire, and describing: "Their kings are not permanent. They select and appoint the most worthy man. [...] The people of this country are all tall and honest."

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BXnW TIL that a wanted pimp had such a sophisticated pattern lock on his android phone that the FBI was unable to crack it. They had to serve Google with a warrant to try and help them.
vPXJ8 TIL Sudan has more pyramids than Egypt. After being destroyed and looted, the ones left are at risk of disappearing due to shifting desert sands. Theres a multi-billion dollar project to plant a line of trees across the entire African continent to create ground stability and stop the desert spread.
ga6X TIL that the test pilot for the first US jet aircraft would wear a gorilla suit while flying the secret prototype, so that other pilots who reported seeing a gorilla flying a propellerless plane wouldn’t be believed
ElPV TIL that Coors Brewing Company was the first American brewery to embrace American-grown hops, but the first hop variety they chose was too strong for their beer.
j6onR TIL in 1940, the UK proposed a UK-France merger, so the countries would be seen as a single country for the duration of WW2. This included shared citizenship, resources, defence, and policies. If the proposal was made just a few days earlier, there is belief it would have been carefully considered.