› added 1 year ago

73

TIL the heat from the Mount Vesuvius eruption was so intense, it turned parts of one victim's brain into glass

Read more bbc.com

via reddit.com

wLQ81 TIL in 1749 a stage show was advertised a where a man would squeeze his body into a wine bottle. It was a bet between the Duke of Portland and the Earl of Chesterfield that they could advertise something impossible and get fools to pay for it. The sold out theatre rioted when no performer showed up.
0wn7R TIL Not long after Julius Caesar was assassinated, a comet shone for seven successive days. This signified Julius Caesar's ascension to Godhood, and propaganda for Caesar's nephew. The comet was described as: "To make that soul a star that burns forever, Above the Forum and the gates of Rome."
N9mQ TIL an Albatross (bird) can sleep while flying to avoid predators such as whales and sharks.
jNJgM TIL that in 1818 US began building a fort near the New York - Quebec border to defend against invasions from Canada.After 2 years of construction, they realized the fort was actually on the Canadian side.They abandoned it and nicknamed it Fort Blunder.
4klb6 TIL of Bobby Leach who in 1911, was the first man and second person to survive going over Niagara Falls in a barrel. He spent six months recovering from his injuries—only to later die from gangrene after slipping on an orange peel and injuring his leg in 1926.