› added 6 months ago

35

TIL that zebras are more closely related to lions than they are to gazelles

Read more onezoom.org

via reddit.com

xVAy5 TIL: John Major, British Prime Minister (1990-1997), left school at 15 and only completed his O-levels years later by correspondence; this would be the equivalent of US president having only a GED.
PYO5Z TIL that the SR-71 Blackbird was originally designated as the RS-71, but when president Lyndon B. Johnson mistakenly called it the SR-71 in a public briefing the name was changed, as the president was not normally corrected.
YZXG TIL the first proposal to tunnel under the English Channel was put forward by a Frenchman in 1802. It would have had illumination from oil lamps, horse-drawn coaches, and an artificial island mid-Channel for changing horses
RxPl TIL Animal Planet aired a mockumentary called “Mermaid: The Body Found.” The two-hour program was so convincing that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration was overwhelmed by callers demanding the truth about the existence of the legendary sea creatures.
1ZmX TIL if you are Jewish and can trace your ancestry back to the Spanish Inquisition (1492), you qualify today for Spanish citizenship.