› added 4 months ago

111

TIL that an ancient 18-story underground city with thousands of ventilation shafts and waterways was discovered in Türkiye. It had churches, stables, a winery, and room for 20,000 people.

Read more atlasobscura.com

via reddit.com

9Y0V7 TIL of Rusik, a Russian police cat. He was adopted by customs officers and sniffed vehicles and travellers for poached sturgeon roe. Rusik was later hit by a car he had previously found sturgeon in. Police suspected it was a revenge killing, due to how effective Rusik was at uncovering contraband.
b910Q TIL that the British government in the 1960s feared that their control of Gibraltar was at risk from monkey lesbianism.
BgNQr TIL The first person to windsurf across the Atlantic was also the captain of the only fatal Concorde incident.
Lwm0 TIL that Rupert Grint’s first movie outside of Harry Potter was a film called “Thunderpants”. The movie featured a young boy whose explosive and dangerous farts land him a job as an astronaut.
PrxJ TIL Richard Branson started Virgin Air by putting up a sign when his plane was cancelled, selling tickets. He used the money raised from the tickets to rent an airplane.