› added 8 years ago

470

TIL that Lawn Gnomes used to actually be real people that the English employed to live in their gardens. The so called Ornamental Hermit.

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via ift.tt

yD1X TIL “Recovery from anesthesia is not simply the result of the anesthetic ‘wearing off,’ but also of the brain finding its way back through a maze of possible activity states to those that allow conscious experience,” one researcher said. “Put simply, the brain reboots itself.”
wokYM TIL housecats are responsible for an annual bird mortality, estimated to be 1.3 to 4.0 billion. And mammal mortality likely 6.3 to 22.3 billion individuals. In the US alone.
VMmMZ TIL: When Bertrand Russell, one of the most peaceful men who ever lived, won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1950, his solution to warmongering was to have artificial, mechanical shark-filled waterfalls for warmongers to navigate via rickety canoe.
b9JQ7 TIL - between the 4th and 5th century, ancient Athens adopted Ostracism, a (check and balance) system that allowed the citizens to vote to exile and banish anyone deemed a threat or tyrant for ten years. The ostracism was only considered valid if the total number of votes counted to at least 6000
R5Be7 TIL the owner of Kayabukiya Tavern, a traditional-style Japanese "sake-house" restaurant, employed his two pet macaque monkeys to serve guests. One monkey would take and deliver drink orders to guest diner tables while the other brought guests hot towels to clean their hands before ordering drinks.