Post * GYvPj — Curious Curator

› added 4 years ago

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TIL The "Am I Not A Man And A Brother?" Medallion was created in 1787 as part of antislavery campaign by Josiah Wedgwood, famed founder of the Wedgwood company.

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1awkP TIL that a mouse will survive a fall from a skyscraper unharmed, whereas an elephant will explode.

OvGY TIL the English word “warranty” was borrowed from French, then after the French word evolved (replacing ‘w’ with 'g’) it was borrowed again as the word “guarantee”. Thus the same word was borrowed twice and given different meanings.

yADv TIL that not everyone buries or cremates their dead. Zoroastrians built open roofed towers to house the bodies of the dead called “Towers of Silence”. These towers were open to carrion birds so that the corpses could be consumed.

Z8AZv TIL Japanese Emperor Hirohito, in his radio announcement declaring the country's capitulation to the Allies in WWII, never used the word "surrender" or "defeat" but instead stated that the “war situation has developed not necessarily to Japan’s advantage."

gMnmL TIL that Benjamin Franklin predicted the time of death of a fellow almanac publisher in his own almanac. When the date came and passed with nothing happening, Franklin published the obituary anyway, and insisted that the still-alive man was actually being impersonated by someone else.