Post * M7Xa — Curious Curator

› added 12 years ago

79

TIL that the first, and only, recorded non-Japenese Samuri, was an English sailor named, William Adams. He is also suspected to be the first Englishman to visit the islands.

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WMrN TIL: Female black bears delay the implantation of their fertilized eggs for months, effectively timing when they will give birth, and aborting the pregnancy if they are not healthy enough to rear cubs

Mp1W TIL the phrase “as smooth as a milkmaid’s skin” comes from the fact that milkmaids were often exposed to cowpox, giving them partial immunity to smallpox and leaving their skin free of pox scars.

ANPlB TIL Sacheen Littlefeather, the "Native American" woman who accepted the 1973 Oscar on behalf of Marlon Brando (for his performance in The Godfather) while he boycotted the ceremony to protest the treatment of Native Americans in Hollywood, was actually a "pretendian" posing as a Native American.

BgNBy TIL that the Oregon Compulsory Education Act was enacted in part because the faiths of Catholics and Jews were viewed as "incompatible with American values".

XE1NP TIL scientists didn't know where birds went in the winter until 1822. That year, a stork was seen in Germany with an arrow from central Africa lodged in its neck, having flown 3,000 km in its wounded state. This provided the final proof that birds migrate.