› added 4 years ago

200

TIL a Polynesian man named Tupaia drew an incredibly accurate map for Captain Cook, but it was misunderstood to be badly made and unusable. The map puzzled people for centuries until some researchers finally figured out how to use it correctly.

Read more tandfonline.com

via reddit.com

m6Bx TIL of Kalief Browder, arrested in the spring of 2010, at age sixteen, for a robbery he insisted he had not committed, who spent 3 years at the Rikers Island prison without being convicted of a crime (2 of which was in solitary) and without seeing a trial. He committed suicide after his release.
Lky4Z TIL In Japanese Folklore, Ijuu is a strange beast that lives in the forests. If you are hiking and run into Ijuu, don't be scared. Just offer to split your lunch with it and the beast will most likely repay you by carrying your heavy backpack.
X0Lrj TIL the Flamen Dialis, the high priest of Jupiter in Ancient Rome, was subject to many restrictions, such as not allowed to touch or mount a horse, not allowed to have a knot in any part of his attire, not walk along a path over-canopied by vines and not touch or name a dog.
yQQyM TIL a disgruntled Jet Blue employee once quit his job by broadcasting an angry rant over the intercom, activating the plane's emergency inflatable ramp, and sliding away with two beers he'd stolen from the galley.
pYQRA TIL that Rumford’s Soup, invented around 1800 by Benjamin Thompson, was an early scientific effort to create cheap, nutritious food. Made from barley, peas, potatoes, and sour beer, it fed the poor, prisoners, and was a common military ration in Central Europe for much of the 19th and 20th centuries