› added 3 weeks ago

5

TIL that in middle ages suicidal people feared eternal damnation that direct suicide entailed, so they would commit a capital crime over innocent child and then turn themselves in to authorities and demand capital punishment

Read more daily.jstor.org

via reddit.com

yYGw TIL the first animal to ask an existential question was from a parrot named Alex. He asked what color he was, and learned that it was “grey”.
kJo74 TIL that before the 19th century, the Versailles was often extremely dirty. Women pulled up their skirts up to pee where they stood, while some men urinated in the middle of the royal chapel. Marie-Antoinette was once hit by human waste being thrown out the window as she walked through a courtyard.
9wKbp TIL Duran Duran's guitarist and bassist and drummer all had surname Taylor; none were related.
rRGD4 TIL that rats have been used to locate over 100k landmines and explosives. They're effective because they're too light to trip the mines.
Jra8 TIL of Cymothoa exigua - a parasite that severs the blood vessels of a fish’s tongue and becomes a new functional tongue. Only known parasite to replace an entire organ.