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TIL that according to Navajo culture the weaver of a rug would deliberately put an imperfection, called a “ch’ihónít’i” (“spirit line”), believed to allow the release of the weaver’s spirit from the woven item, and also symbolizes the perfection-in-imperfection

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l7jYA TIL that the smallest functional motorcycle in the world is called ‘Smalltoe.’ Tom Wiberg, from Sweden, built Smalltoe, which stood at 2.55 inches tall and weighed a mere 2.4 pounds. The Guinness World Records certified Wiberg as a record holder in 2003 for making the smallest functional motorcycle
kOE9B TIL the Byzantine Emperor Basi II, or Basi the Bulgar Slayer, after the Battle of Kleidion, put captured Bulgarians into groups of one-hundred, and left ninety-nine of each group blind. The latter of whom was captured and left with only one eye, and had to lead the blind group back home.
yQJw8 TIL that if you add 250ml of ethanol to 250ml of water, you get less than 500ml of liquid. This is due to strong hydrogen bonding that draws the different molecules close together, and because ethanol interferes with any open structures in the water, causing the molecules to pack closer together.
8wJ8 TIL that Orson Wells’ famous radio broadcast of The War of the Worlds (which aired 75 years ago today) actually caused almost none of the public panic for which it became famous; newspapers’ over-reporting of the incident was actually an attempt to discredit radio as a news source
ANoVd TIL, In 2018, a parrot owner had to remove an Alexa speaker from her home after she caught her pet parrot secretly ordering itself snacks from Amazon.