› added 5 years ago

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TIL: England use to have a public holiday known as 'Pinch Bum Day' (officially Oak Apple Day). On the anniversary of the restoration of King (1660) it was customary to wear oak leaves, anyone who failed to do so risked getting pinched, pelted with eggs or thrashed with stinging nettles.

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e01Ok TIL that Vin Diesel started his career as not just an actor, but a writer, producer, and director as well. In 1994 he made a short film that screened at Cannes, and in 1997 he made a feature that played at Sundance.
RZX8 TIL that Aztec kings wore cloaks made entirely of hummingbird skins—it would take about 8,000 hummingbirds to create an adult-size cloak.
vM9R TIL singer Akon launched a project aimed to provide solar powered electricity, jobs, and education about infrastructure to millions of people in Africa. The project now provides electricity in 14 African countries and employs over 5,000 mainly young people who install and maintain solar equipment.
GYA47 TIL king Gustav III of Sweden commuted the death sentences of a set of twins to life imprisonment if one drank 3 pots of coffee and the other drank 3 pots of tea to test the effects of the newly introduced coffee.
ADNWa The human brain looks like a big, pinkish-gray, wrinkly walnut. There are so many folds in it that, if it could be unfolded, it could be a small tablecloth. Pinkish-gray might not match your decor, but it would be about the right size! This "tablecloth" is made up of the cerebral cortex and is the wrinkly outside layer of your brain. All those folds are responsible for abstract thought, language, and memory. Scientists believe the wrinkles exist as a way to increase the surface area of the cortex, allowing for increased brainpower in a smaller space. In this week’s Today I Learned, neuroscientist and National Geographic Emerging Explorer Steve Ramirez shares some of his smarts on how your cortex is different from your pet hamster’s.