› added 12 years ago

99

TIL Roman sling bullets sometimes had things written on them, such as “Ouch!”, “Catch!” and “I seek Pompey’s asshole”

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4XNdJ TIL that bioluminescence is believed to be the most common form of communication on earth.
Ee6w TIL Alex the Grey Parrot had a vocabulary of over 100 words and could distinguish seven colors and five shapes. He once asked what color he was, making him the first and only non-human animal to ever ask an existential question.
9Y4dp TIL technical and commercial divers will breathe a mixture of oxygen, nitrogen, and helium known as trimix. Some of the nitrogen in air is replaced with helium to reduce the narcotic effect of breathing nitrogen under pressure, allowing them to dive deeper while maintaining a clear head.
e0JQg TIL that in the year 774 a "red crucifix" was seen in the sky, after sunset. This was likely caused by an extremely powerful solar flare. If a similar flare hit the earth today, modern human civilization could collapse due to wide spread power outages and damage to the power infrastructure.
j6Klv TIL James O’Barr, author of “The Crow”, approached The Cure’s Robert Smith to contribute an existing song for the upcoming film. Smith, a huge fan of the graphic novel, opted instead to write and record a new track, “Burn”, in 2 days.