› added 9 years ago

162

TIL China’s Great Wall was first built by China’s shortest dynasty, Qin, which lasted only 15 years. The Qin Emperor built the Terracotta Army for his tomb and buried workers alive to keep it secret. He died from drinking mercury, which he believed was an elixir of immortality.

Read more wikipedia.org

via ift.tt

Oba4 TIL The D-day landing scene in Saving Private Ryan was so violent the film should have received an NC-17 rating, however received an R rating due to the “masterpiece exception.”
GA65g TIL Alexander Alekhine, World Chess Champion from 1927 to 1935, once tried to cross the German-Polish border with no papers. He instead offered a declaration. “I am Alekhine, chess champion of the world. This is my cat. Her name is Chess. I need no passport.” He was arrested.
wyD8 TIL Kirk Douglas’ son, Eric Douglas, tried a career in stand-up comedy. At one point he was frustrated by the audience’s reaction, so he shouted ‘I’m Kirk Douglas’s son!’. An audience member responded by standing up and shouting 'No, I’m Kirk Douglas’s son!’, followed by the rest of the audience.
5e8Q TIL Jim Carrey’s family was so poor that he quit school at 15 to support them by working as a janitor. He carried a baseball bat in his janitor’s cart because, “[he] was so angry [he] just wanted to beat the heck out of something.”
dD8oK TIL the control of fire by early humans a million years ago changed our sleeping patterns. Exposure to artificial light during the afternoon altered humans' circadian rhythms and contributed to a longer waking day, giving us 16 hours in the waking day while most mammals are only awake for half that.