› added 10 years ago

192

TIL that when medieval Islamic scholar al-Biruni was trying to determine the exact position of qibla (the Muslim direction for prayer), he realized that a vast span of Earth’s land was unaccounted for in the modern maps of the time. This turned out to be the American continent.

Read more news.sciencemag.org

via reddit.com

e1xJ TIL Horton Hears a Who, by Dr. Seuss, is an allegory for post-WWII US occupation of Japan. Seuss, who was vehemently anti-Japanese during the conflict, had a drastic change of heart after visiting postwar Japan. He dedicated the book to a Japanese friend.
0dMe1 TIL the the Royal Canadian Mounted Police place undercover sky marshals on every Canadian flight to Ronald Regan Washington National Airport
WkgRd TIL Pixar's Cars (2006) was simultaneously Pixar's final movie to be released on VHS and their first movie to be released on Blu-ray.
p8Ooe TIL : There are problems which can't be solved even if we have plenty of resources. These are called as undecidable problems. For such a problem, a computer might give a wrong answer or it will run forever without a solution.
16B17 TIL that Kalawao County on the North Coast of Moloka'i in Hawaii is the smallest US County by area (12 sq miles of land) and 2nd smallest by population (82) after Loving County in Texas. It is a former Leper Colony that permits no new permanent residents and only allows visitors from official tours.