› added 7 years ago

87

TIL magician Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin went to French controlled Algeria in 1856 to show the power of French magic. He lifted a metal box in front of a crowd, then had a warrior that he had made "as weak as a woman" try. Turning on electromagnets in the ground, he made the metal box unliftable.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

Y7RWr TIL: Kinks are both learned AND hereditary according to several PHD researchers. As inheriting some bodily features, such as sensitive nipples will draw offspring towards BDSM elements for example. The conclusion is that inherited traits and prime conditions can lead to one developing similar kinks.
xVolw TIL the world's oldest living clam, "Ming the clam", was accidentally killed when scientists tried to figure out how old it was. Upon inspection they found it was 507 years old, 100 years older than previously speculated.
9YoZX TIL about the Diggers, a group of proto-Socialists in 17th Century England who would take over common land and start growing crops for the benefit of the people.
YpG0r TIL the 21st century didn't begin on January 1st 2000. It began later on January 1st 2001. This is because the first year of a century is the year 01, never 00.
vpnL TIL that the current mayor of Davao city, Phillipines is noted for transforming the city from the murder capital of the nation to “the most peaceful city in Southeast Asia” through vigilante means and toleration of extrajudicial killings of alleged criminals. Time magazine dubbed him “The Punisher”.