› added 10 years ago

76

TIL The most widely used map today, known as the Mercator projection map, depicts the continents’ sizes distorted, for example, Alaska appears to be three times larger than Mexico, although Mexico actually is larger than Alaska

Read more directionsmag.com

via reddit.com

R8Q6 TIL that your wounds heal faster if you lick them. You instinctively do this for that reason. Tears help, too.
5ynn TIL on April Fools’ Day 1957 the BBC current-affairs programme Panorama, purportedly showed a family in southern Switzerland harvesting spaghetti from the family “spaghetti tree”. Spaghetti was so little-known that many Britons contacted the BBC for advice on growing their own trees.
KOn1R TIL: In the 11th century, Spain was 80% Muslim.
X04gQ TIL Hawaii is the best place on earth to see rainbows. There are words for Earth-clinging rainbows (uakoko), standing rainbow shafts (kāhili), barely visible rainbows (punakea), and moonbows (ānuenue kau pō). The rainbow is seen as a symbol of transformation and a pathway between Earth and Heaven.
8aj5V TIL 1963 film Charade was accidentally released into the public domain when the filmmakers neglected to add copyright text/symbol when published