› added 5 years ago

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TIL about “spreading depolarization”, a scientific phenomena where the human brain continues to emit brain waves after the heart stops, for several minutes even. When Anne Boleyn was beheaded her detached head reportedly tried to talk.

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via reddit.com

oKlL TIL in early 2015, the unmanned spacecraft, “Dawn”, is scheduled to arrive at Ceres, a dwarf planet and the largest object in our solar system’s asteroid belt.
M7NK TIL that the original Mortal Kombat game was conceived as a fighting game based on Jean-Claude Van Damme. The creators wanted him to star in it, but he had a prior deal with the Sega Genesis platform. The creators then made the character Johnny Cage based on JCVD’s appearance in the movie Bloodsport
7rW5L TIL that multimillionaire Richard B. Mellon and his brother Andrew had a game of Tag going. This game of Tag lasted for like seven decades. When Richard was on his deathbed, he called his brother over and whispered, “Last tag.” Poor Andrew remained “It” for four years, until he died.
R7v01 TIL during the Black Death, the Adriatic port city of Ragusa was the first city to require mandatory 30-day isolation for sailors and traders in order to track infection. The Italians lengthened it to 40 days, or a “quaranta giorni”—hence, a quarantine.
p8MdQ TIL that the world premiere of Handel's Messiah sold so many tickets that the audience was asked to leave their swords and hooped skirts at home. Jonathan Swift thought it the piece was blasphemous and threatened to publicly forbid singers from St. Patrick’s Cathedral from participating.