› added 11 years ago

88

TIL There’s a plant in Australia that can kill you if you touch it!

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JYo4k TIL the Wonder Bra was invented in Canada and was voted the fifth most important Canadian invention, higher than the pacemaker.
8WJ8 TIL the letter X in “Xmas” is actually the Greek letter “Chi”, which is the Greek abbreviation of the word “Christ”.
xV9PB TIL that Purgatory in the Divine Comedy (1320) is a mountain situated on the opposite end of the world to Jerusalem, and Dante and Virgil reach it by going to the centre of the Earth (via Hell) and up the other side. This is because the Medieval world, and hence Dante, knew the Earth was a sphere.
D1Pej TIL Scientist grew trees in a sealed biosphere and couldn't work out why they fell over before they matured. They eventually figured out whilst they provided the perfect growing environment it was lacking wind which provides the stress to ensure the trees grew strong enough to support themselves.
vP46L TIL William Jennings Bryan, the Democratic nominee for President, traveled 18,000 miles (29,000 km) and to 27 states and made around 600 speeches that had a combined audience of around 5 million people during his 1896 campaign