› added 1 year ago

54

TIL that the law of the Mongol Empire was never made public

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

VBQo8 TIL that Roald Dahl wrote a short story that predicted story-writing machines. In it, most authors end up signing contracts to let the machines write stories in their names, while a handful of authors struggle on. He ends by saying, “Give us strength, Oh Lord, to let our children starve.”
9YWj6 TIL animals can't make vitamin D in their skin because their fur or feathers shade it from the sun. In the oils secreted on their fur or feathers are the precursors, and after vitamin D is produced they lick it up when grooming.
J11r1 TIL that Marie Currie kept vials of radium in her pockets and next to her bed because she liked the glow. Now, more than 80 years since her death, the body of Marie Curie is still radioactive.
6OBX TIL Women are physiologically better at distinguishing color, while men better distinguish moving objects.
6pr8 TIL that payed, a common misspelling of paid, is an actual word that means an act of sealing the deck or seams of wooden ships with pitch to prevent water leakage. This makes it an atomic typo(link in comments)