› added 9 years ago

174

TIL While studying late, 1905 Brahmin (priest class) students of Madras (South India) used to tie their hair to a nail in the wall to keep themselves from dosing off.

Read more thefridaytimes.com

via reddit.com

9wpWX TIL that a few billion years ago an Earth day was only about 19 hours
neAB9 TIL that there's an encrypted art sculpture at the CIA Headquarters titled KRYPTOS. It's complete message has remained unsolved for over 30 years.
pYE4Z TIL of Giordano Bruno, a 16th century Italian philosopher whose extension of Copernicus’ ideas proposed that the stars were suns with their own planets that might support lifeforms. He was executed for heresy by the Church in 1600.
pYO8Z TIL in 1962 Brendon Grimshaw bought Moyenne Island in Seychelles for £8k. He planted 16k trees on the island and bred giant Aldabra tortoises. He was the sole inhabitant of the island until his death in 2012. Instead of selling it for $50m, it was declared a national park is the world's smallest.
R5W54 TIL: There is a small part of Spain inside France. The town of Llivia is a few Kms over the border but has a special road to connect it with the rest of Spain.