› added 3 years ago

107

TIL that the longest downhill road in the world is over 100 km's long. It is a descent from Nepal to Kathmandu valley on the road connecting Lhasa to Kathmandu.

Read more chinatibettrain.com

via reddit.com

VMWPG TIL Ruth, of Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, has always hated the name "Ruth's Chris"
w4M6 TIL that J. R. R. Tolkien might have gotten the idea for a ring that makes its wearer invisible from an ancient, Greek story told by one of Plato’s students about a shepherd discovering such a ring on a cadaver in a cave, and then using it to kill his king
wdpP TIL: Tupac Shakur auditioned to be Mace Windu in ‘Star Wars’
XEVDj TIL in the 1880s, the Harvard Observatory director was frustrated with his staff, and would say "My Scottish maid could do better!" So, he hired his Scottish maid. Williamina Fleming ran a team for decades, classified tens of thousands of stars, & discovered white dwarfs and the Horsehead Nebula.
W7egB TIL Prion diseases result when a protein misfolds into an abnormal form called prion. They are much smaller than viruses and do not contain any genetic material. There is sporadic, familial, and acquired prion disease, such as Mad Cow disease. All prion diseases are fatal.