› added 1 month ago

10

TIL that Celtic languages were once widely spoken across much of western and central Europe. These languages/cultures slowly succumbed to Roman and Germanic expansion, and today Celtic languages are reduced to Ireland, the UK, and Northwest France.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

9Y6OG TIL that loopholes are the slits in castle walls that archers fired from, and that's why finding the loophole is finding a way to circumvent security measures in place
WLGN TIL Astronauts on the Apollo missions reported seeing flashes and streaks of light when they closed their eyes. This was later confirmed to be caused by cosmic radiation bombarding their retinas while outside of the Earth’s magnetosphere.
E1jZo TIL that the acclaimed writer Leo Tolstoy converted to Christianity and became a anarchist and a pacifist based on the teachings of Jesus. He was a major inspiration to Gandhi and Martin Luther King.
REPQ TIL that there’s an hourglass in Budapest that takes a full year to run out. It takes four people almost an hour to turn it.
kJV1m TIL that Franklin Roosevelt, paralyzed by polio at 39, defied odds as a lifelong paraplegic, steering the U.S. through tumultuous times, including World War II, from his wheelchair in the White House