› added 5 years ago

440

TIL the reason we write from left to right is to not smudge ink. The Greeks (from whom English is derived) mostly had right handed stone workers and when they began to use papyrus, left to right allowed them to see what they were writing as well as prevent ruining the paper by smudging the ink

Read more childrensmuseum.org

via reddit.com

Pw1Z TIL there are only eight extant species of bear in the world.
0wgPj TIL that in 1944, the British hatched a plan to assassinate Hitler – Operation Foxley. Many, including Churchill approved of the plan. It never went through though because Hitler was an awful military strategist, and there was fear that whoever replaced him would be more adept at winning the war.
QaDL TIL Russian criminal and prisoners would get large chest and back tattoos of Stalin and Lenin, not out of respect, but to avoid having internal organs damaged during beatings by guards who would not denigrate the images.
pYmrZ TIL about François Vatel, who was in charge of a banquet for 2000 people in honour of King Louis XIV in 1671. He committed suicide during preparations for the meal after a seafood delivery was late, and was only discovered when someone was sent to inform him that it had arrived.
RDYl TIL When Ronald Reagan became president of the United States he asked his Chief of Staff to see “The War Room”. No one had informed him that it was only a movie set that was created fictionally for the black comedy “Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb”.