› added 3 years ago

140

TIL beer soup was a common breakfast in medieval Europe.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

wLk9P TIL the phrase "Blowing Smoke Up Your Ass" used to be literal. The practice was thought to revive people who were passed out or drowned. Equipment for the procedure was placed near waterways just as defibrillators are today.
Aexw TIL - Heinz ketchup has the number 57 on it just because H.J. Heinz thought it was luckier than 60 which was the number of varieties of their products at the time.
xwgw TIL The enormous circular leaves of Victoria amazonica, which grow to over 2.5 m across are so buoyant that they can easily support the weight of a small child, and a mature leaf can support 45 kg if the load is evenly distributed.
GYee7 TIL Only 220,000 Paraguayans survived the 1870 Paraguayan War, of which 28,000 were male. In other words, the male population of Paraguay post-war was only 13%.
9YGpm TIL the first proto-bicycle was invented because a huge volcanic eruption sent ash around the world, changed the climate, led to famine and disease, and ultimately resulted in the slaughtering of horses for food -- a new mode of transportation was needed to fill the void.