› added 11 years ago

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TIL: The origin of saying “Bless you” after someone sneezes dates back to at least 77AD and may be due to (amongst other things) people originally believing that a person’s soul could be thrown from their body when they sneezed

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OoyWa TIL about the Oakland Buddha, placed by a resident on a street corner in a desperate attempt to prevent illegal dumping, it has grown over the years into a shrine for the local Vietnamese residents. Following the development of the Buddhist shrine, criminal activity in the area dropped by 82%
78Lxr TIL that Helium is the only element that is not a metal with the -ium suffix and it’s because Helium was named before -ium was used to indicate metals.
lo1gB TIL Christianity has existed in India even before it did in the western world. Since it was established by Saint Thomas the disciple following the death of Jesus.
n1br Hippos cannot swim. Their bodies are far too dense to float. Instead, they push off the bottom of the river or run along the riverbed.
EVvW TIL that due to having similar names, the staff of the Slovak and Slovenian embassies meet at least once a month to exchange wrongly addressed mail