› added 5 years ago

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TIL from the Battle of Hastings in 1066 the government of England spoke a type of French called Norman, while ordinary people spoke forms of English. Although Norman died out in England several hundred years ago, it continues in legal terms and parliament is still opened by the Queen in Norman.

pLOe TIL that Sir Isaac Newton, while Master of the Royal Mint, personally went undercover in bars and taverns to root out rampant counterfeiting, which was high treason (punishable by being hanged, drawn and quartered). He successfully prosecuted 28 counterfeiters in 18 months.
nebBY TIL that "Weird Al" Yankovic has had the same core band for 38 years | He began working with percussionist Jon Schwartz 41 years ago; guitarist Jim West and bassist Steve Jay have been with him since 1983.
rdgo TIL Anders Celsius originally created the temperature scale with 100 degrees as freezing and 0 degrees as boiling. Carl Linnaeus, another scientist, waited until he died to change the scale to what it is today.
5Ymd9 TIL after TJ Miller got accused of sexual misconduct and called in a fake bomb threat, Dreamworks hired an impersonator to dub over his lines in How To Train Your Dragon 3 to match his performance exactly (it had already been animated) in order to not change the film but still dissociate him from it
gMdn7 TIL in 2010, an octopus from Germany named Paul would predict how every game in the FIFA World Cup would go. He ended up being 100% correct with every choice he made.