› added 7 years ago

150

TIL that a viking-age human turd is being displayed at a museum in England

Read more bbc.co.uk

via reddit.com

NKPM TIL Tolkien’s book “The Two Towers” is ambiguous with regard to the title as any pair from the five towers in the story could plausibly fit the title. Tolkien drew a cover illustration showing the towers he meant but the publisher decided not to use it in order to save money.
dwGB TIL that Steve Irwin admitted in an interview he was so freaked out on his wedding day he couldn’t consummate the marriage afterwards - he opted for a steak instead.
J1yrQ TIL that because the period (.) was already in use in France to make Roman numerals more readable, they adopted, along with many other countries, commas to separate numbers and decimals (9.99 vs 9,99)
y1LM TIL one of the adversities that the Napoleonic army faced in Russia was the fact that the buttons of their uniforms may have turned to dust. Tin was the major metal used to make buttons and the bonding structure of tin atoms begins to change when temperatures drop below 13°C
NKvE TIL around 70,000 years ago the volcano Toba in Indonesia erupted and covered the earth with so much ash the sun was dimmed for 6 years. The population of early humans neared extinction and some studies indicate there were as few as 40 breeding pairs.