› added 11 years ago

112

TIL that during the Han Dynasty, plague victims were catapulted into cites under siege as a form of biological warfare.

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ndXY TIL hamsters and gerbils are illegal in Australia
16MKO TIL that Nathaniel Coe, a Whig politician, declined nomination to the United States Senate, instead choosing to serve as an inspector for the United States Postal Service.
1amO TIL that the screeching noise you get from scraping your fingernails against a chalkboard is uncomfortable because it is similar to a primate warning call and triggers a fight or flight response.
OG9g TIL that C.S Lewis, the author of The Chronicles of Narnia, became an atheist when he was 15, but was converted back to Christianity by JRR Tolkien, the author of Lord of The Rings
ANAKx TIL In 1906 Andrew Carnegie formed the Simplified Spelling Board to fix spelling in the English language. Teddy Roosevent was ready to impose their recommendations but he and Carnegie disagreed on how to get the public to adopt. So we're still stuck with that "d" and "e" in Wednesday.