Post * KodG — Curious Curator

› added 10 years ago

131

TIL Starvation can produce profound mental clarity. In one case a starving WWII POW became conversant in Norwegian in a single week.

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Y7KVv TIL The French Navy uses 30:33:37 proportions for its tricolour ensign. When flying in a breeze the fly (right) side appears relatively smaller and the hoist (left) side larger, and the asymmetry is an attempt to correct for this effect.

xRw0 TIL Scots (the dominant language of Scotland) used to be a distinct Germanic Language from English all its own. But over the last century has gone into “Language death” as new generations adopt Standard English and has now mostly devolved into a dialect.

grMgL TIL Eastern Whip-poor-wills lay their eggs in phase with the lunar cycle, so that they hatch on average 10 days before a full moon. When the moon is near full, the adults can forage the entire night and capture large quantities of insects to feed to their nestlings.

9KeQ TIL Kosher salt is not called “Kosher” because the salt itself is specifically certified as kosher. Rather, Kosher salt got its name because this larger grained version of salt was used in the process of koshering meat, specifically to remove surface blood from meat.

LwWr TIL of the 4,500 troops in the British army who were retreating from Kabul to Jalalabad in 1842, the only one who made it back uncaptured was assistant surgeon William Brydon. When asked upon his arrival what happened to the army, he answered, “I am the army.”