› added 8 months ago

22

TIL of Lei Tai. An Ancient Chinese form of Gladiatorial Combat/Entertainment where a local champion fighter builds a stage in the town square and invites anyone to knock him off the stage using any unarmed martial art. The winner then gets to "own" the stage, and issues a similar challenge as well.

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XymR TIL that in 1982 a scientist discovered an ‘impossible’ structure of matter and was universally mocked by the scientific community. In 2011, Dr. Shechtman was awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry.
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a8DVo TIL that honeyguide birds deliberately lead humans to beehives so that they will harvest the honey and kill or disperse the adult bees, leaving grubs and edible beeswax for the birds.
5kER TIL: The first known “battery” dates back 2000 years, could produce up to 2 volts, and its use was unknown
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