› added 2 years ago

66

TIL that aluminum and aluminium are the same thing…my whole life i thought they were different elements (picture is just filler so i can post this)

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8axJZ TIL W. E. B. Du Bois envisioned "an Encyclopedia Africana," named like the Encyclopædia Britannica. Du Bois envisioned a scientific and comprehensive work on Africa and Africans that would refute the Enlightenment notion of blacks as devoid of civilization. Due to lack of support, the project died
D1p0p TIL that the English name for the "bear" meaning "the brown one" originated as a taboo avoidance. It was feared that if the original word for bear (arkto) was spoken, it would cause the animal to appear.
epB16 TIL of Porphyrios, a large whale that wreaked havok on Roman ships outside of Constantinople for 50 years. Emperor Justinian the Great made it an important matter to capture it, though he could not come up with a way to.
yQ0Na TIL Open-faced sandwiches are inspected by the USDA, while closed-faced sandwiches are inspected by the FDA.
4kExo TIL Some dialects of English use the adverb anymore in an affirmative context