› added 9 months ago

105

TIL that the tallest tree ever measured wasn’t actually a redwood. It was an Australian mountain ash. Which was recorded at a height of over 130 metres! (427 ft)

Read more guinnessworldrecords.com

via reddit.com

R7aVQ TIL in 1941, the crew of submarine HMS Trident were given a reindeer as a gift by the USSR navy and it spend six weeks on the sub with them until they reached home.
b9AQa [TIL] The Milan Cathedral began construction in 1386. The façade was finished under Napoleon in 1806, and the cathedral was not officially completed until 1965.
5YGbQ TIL Kareem Abdul-Jabbar asked for $5k more than the $30k he was offered to be in Airplane! just so he could buy an Oriental rug he had his eye on.
R78OQ TIL in 1828, Eastern State Penitentiary opened with a ground breaking agenda to rehabilitate prisoners. Prisoners had a cell each, and were comforted with central heating and flush toilets, something which even the White House didn't have at that time.
b96YZ The rise of Genghis Khan and the Mongolian empire was responsible for the annihilation of an estimated 40 million people, but there were clearly more than a few conquests off the battlefield as well. A 2003 study suggests that 1 in 200 men are direct descendants of Genghis Khan. Studies of Y-chromosome data found that almost 8 percent of men living in the former Mongolian empire carry nearly identical Y chromosomes. Researchers believe this is attributed to a unique set of social selection circumstances put into play by the spread of the Mongolian empire. In this week’s "Today I Learned," research scientist Albert Lin elaborates on Genghis Khan as a romantic.