› added 10 months ago

36

TIL of the Erfurt Latrine Disaster. During a meeting called by Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI, the second floor of the cathedral collapsed. 60 German nobles died when they fell through the first floor into the latrine cesspit below. Many died drowning in liquid excrement.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

KQ9R TIL Elephants are so afraid of bees that the mere sound of buzzing is enough to make an entire herd flee. They have even developed a special rumble just to warn each other if bees are nearby.
KOmA4 TIL before Gilligan's Island got its famous theme, the pilot featured a 6 minute long Calypso song written by a then-unknown John Williams
RoeQ TIL the Fahrenheit system was designed with the freezing point of brine as 0 degrees, 32 degrees as the freezing point of water, and 96 degrees as the temperature of the human body. The difference between 32 and 96 was useful for instrumentation at the time (64 can be bisected 6 times).
0wLX1 TIL There is an Island in France where donkey wear Trousers.
9wya7 TIL that the large, flat grill that's featured in many Japanese restaurants is called a "teppan", not a "hibachi" according to popular belief. The cuisine prepared thereupon is referred to as "teppanyaki".