› added 6 years ago

63

TIL that Charles Dickens’ novels were hugely popular even among the illiterate poor. They would pool their money to hire a reader, and then gather together to listen to the stories.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

Yrm7 TIL the world’s only Cornish Pasty museum is in Mexico
GA9xJ TIL fertile women emit pheromones that cause men to drink more alcohol
v115D TIL that within about 600 million years, faster weathering of rocks by an increasingly brighter sun will reduce atmospheric CO2 levels below the threshold required for trees to survive, and all of earth's forests will die.
gMd1X TIL after Marvin Gaye recorded “What’s Going On”, he played it for Motown’s Berry Gordy Jr. who said it was “the worst thing I heard in my life.” Only after Gaye threatened to leave the label was it released, becoming massive hit and considered 4th greatest song of all time by the Rolling Stone.
awl50 TIL: Genghis Khan had the greatest positive impact on the environment of this planet, his murderous Mongol armies were responsible for the massacre of as many as 40 million people, which actually helped scrub about 700 million tonnes of carbon from the atmosphere.