› added 4 years ago

86

TIL of the 10,000 year clock. Currently being constructed in Texas.

Read more longnow.org

via reddit.com

X0Xnk TIL about New Zealand author Janet Frame was erroneously diagnosed with schizophrenia and scheduled for lobotomy. However, several days prior to the procedure, she was awarded New Zealand's most esteemed literary accolade, prompting doctors to cancel the operation.
wLlao TIL Sunflower roots are edible both raw or cooked. They are easy to grow and disease-free through heat and drought. [Sunchokes taste similar to water chestnuts and jicama.]
Wo68 TIL that during the torture of the alleged 20th hijacker Mohammed al-Qahtani, he was forced to “watch puppet shows depicting sexual acts between him and Osama bin Laden at his mock birthday party”
78WaZ TIL Darwin, Australia was named after Charles Darwin but before he published his theory of evolution. Captain Wickham sailed with Darwin during HMS Beagle's first voyage, then he named the area after his old crewmate during the second voyage when he surveyed Northern Australia.
9YEw7 TIL of 'Heaven's Gate' (religious group), who had participated in a mass suicide of 39 of its members (a coordinated series of ritual suicides) in order to reach what they believed was an extraterrestrial spacecraft following Comet Hale–Bopp in 1997.