Post * 8B4a — Curious Curator

› added 11 years ago

361

TIL autistic savant Daniel Tammet learned Icelandic in just one week, and then went through a live interview on national TV in the language

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QJ0KE TIL that for years before slavery was banned in Canada, African slaves in Canada escaped south to the free areas of the US.

9YAvM TIL that when Cato the Younger attempted suicide in secret to avoid capture by Caesar, his sword missed any vital organs, slicing open his stomach. When he awoke to a doctor stitching him up, Cato pushed him away, tore out his intestines with his bare hands, and died on the spot.

ZQAY TIL that there’s a Welsh settlement in Argentina called Y Wladfa, where they speak Patagonian Welsh. It was set up in 1865 as a “little Wales beyond Wales”.

4Mkw TIL, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research, 50% of Americans couldn’t come up with $2,000 in 30 days, and another 19% would have to pawn or sell some of their possessions to do so.

5Vdkr TIL that Exeter Cathedral in England has a cat door that was carved in 1598; the cats were employed to keep down the population of mice, who came into the cathedral because the gears of clock were greased with animal fat