› added 8 months ago

25

TIL of sky burial, a funeral practice in which a corpse is placed on a mountaintop and left to decompose or be eaten by vultures.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

KYrvw TIL a village in Portugal encourages children to smoke cigarettes as part of a traditional Epiphany ritual.
xYj5 TIL that whenever you move your eyes quickly from one point to another point, there is a disconnect between your eyes and brain, so your perception of time stretches backwards slightly. This is why, when you first look at a clock, it appears to take longer than a second to move
ANP6d TIL that platypuses milk oozes from the surface of their skin; it also contains powerful antibacterial proteins
d8N4j TIL about the 18th century folk song Maggie May. A prostitute in Liverpool who robs sailors after spending the night with them, Maggie is eventually caught and sent to the Botany Bay penal colony in Australia. It's possible the song's story is of a real woman, Nellie Ray, a prostitute and thief.
P4jG TIL actor Peter Butterworth was a POW who took part in the actual “Great Escape,” but was rejected for the film for not looking “convincingly heroic or athletic.”