› added 12 years ago

98

TIL, in the 1850’s, the South African Xhosa tribe had a teenage prophet who claimed all crops had to be burned and all cattle be killed, so that the spirits can sweep the British settlers to sea. 300k-400k cattle were killed, tragically resulting in famine that even caused cannibalism.

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d8ZNd TIL that between 1998 and 2016 Iceland managed to reduce the number of 15 and 16 year olds who had been drunk in the last month from 42% to 5%.
Rkn8 TIL that composer Charles Ives proposed that a 20th Amendment should be added to the U.S. Constitution that allowed people to submit legislative proposals to Congress. Members of Congress would then cull the proposals, selecting 10 each year as referendums for popular vote by the nation’s electorate
8apEZ Today I learned there is a no-kill animal shelter in Costa Rica called "Territorio de Zaguates", or "Land of Strays". It sits on 378 acres and is home to approximately 1,000 dogs. There, visitors are able to go on scenic hikes with the dogs, even if they have no plans to adopt.
9wlJX TIL that Wind in the Willows author Kenneth Grahame was shot at three times while working at the Bank of England, and none of the bullets hit him.
b9Yga TIL Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is being eaten alive by millions of venomous sea stars known as crown-of-thorns starfish (COTS). Scientist have developed a new robot to hunt and kill these sea stars—a murderous, autonomous underwater vehicle called RangerBot. It kills with a single shot of bile