› added 12 years ago

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TIL that Muslim astronauts have struggled with the issue of how to pray from space. When orbiting the Earth, it’s impossible to pray facing Mecca because its direction constantly changes.

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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.
m1mJy TIL that an area in Texas is called "The Texas Killing Fields." Since the early 1970s roughly 30 bodies have been extracted from the fields, mainly consisting of young girls. The fields have been described as "a perfect place for killing somebody and getting away with it."
B98K TIL that copyright owners of factual compilations like maps and phone books will include mistakes on purpose as a “copyright trap” to catch illegal copiers in the act.
8eP1Z TIL about the Tailorbird, a songbird from the Asian tropics that uses its pointed beak to sew nests with large leaves using plant fiber as thread
QAvp TIL that the gyros, shawarma, tacos al pastor, and doner kebab can all be traced back to one man: Hadji Iskender