› added 7 months ago

61

TIL: In 2007, Bokito the gorilla escaped and attacked a woman who made eye contact with him at The Diergaarde Blijdorp zoo in Rotterdam. This inspired insurance company "FTBO" to design "Bokito Kijker" (or "Bokito Viewers"), special glasses that made it look like the wearer was averting their gaze

Read more mymodernmet.com

via reddit.com

xVyDk TIL of a nomadic water bird called the “branded stilt” found in Australia that can mysteriously sense and chase rainfalls hundreds of miles away often in sudden, unpredictable and gypsylike movements
d8yaK TIL that one night in Ontario, 1978, two men with balaclavas and guns approached a restaurant. The manager saw them coming, but, unfazed, yelled: "Sorry, we're closed" and went back to mopping. The confused robbers fled and were apprehended. At appeal they were found not guilty of attempted robbery.
YpLkB TIL Away from home, Dickens would realign his bed to face north, and he had to be facing north before he could write, as he felt this would foster his creativity.
ypRe TIL in order to qualify to be a police officer in Japan, the student must obtain a black belt in Judo. In addition, courses are given in calligraphy, flower arrangement, tea ceremony, poetry writing, and Japanese flute to sensitize a police officer to the artistic side of human nature.
oZPE TIL in 1967, protesters requested a permit to levitate the Pentagon 300 feet in the air, through songs and chants, to exorcise it of its evil and end the Vietnam War. Authorities agreed to only 3 feet.