› added 5 years ago

50

TIL the Olympics used to award medals for arts (literature, architecture, painting etc). Between 1912-1948 a total of 151 medals were awarded - the tradition was brought in because the Ancient Greeks used to hold art events alongside the games.

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d8AR7 TIL that the light you see when you rub your eyes really hard are called Phosphenes and it has been described since the ancient Greeks.
Rdwa TIL that HBO used some 160 lawyers to vet its film Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief because of the notorious litigiousness of the Church of Scientology.
yjMl TIL scientists have found 1.5-billion-year-old water in a mine 1.5 miles beneath Ontario, Canada
rB00 TIL Most cars on the road in Cuba are Classic Cars, due to the Embargo not allowing the import of cars newer than 1959. This restriction was lifted in 2011.
WObo TIL that Katherine Switzer was the first woman to complete the Boston Marathon in 1967 despite race organizers physically trying to stop her during the race