› added 11 years ago

127

TIL one of the Popes was a 100% accident. In the Middle Ages, cardinals would often vote for a random candidate on the first papal ballot in order to see how the other cardinals were leaning, but in 1334 this backfired when they all voted for the same person: the very surprised Pope Benedict XII.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

mxMyx TIL of “Cow Tools,” a cartoon described as the most loathed Far Side strip ever, that confused so many readers the newspaper’s phones didn’t stop ringing for two days. The author, Gary Larson, issued a press release explaining the joke after receiving hundreds of letters.
OxA7 TIL That scientists used a complex algorithm to gauge the level of bias in a media outlet by what quotes each outlet selected from a similar speech. It found that almost all forms of American media had statistically significant media bias.
d8pBd TIL Myrmica sabuleti, or the Myrmica Ant, is often tricked by a caterpillar species that pretends to be ant larvae. It waits on a thyme leaf until the ants spot it and carry it to their nest, where it then feeds on ant grubs for the next 10 months before emerging as a Large Blue butterfly.
0mQj TIL that a clinical study on alcoholism that tracked 1,824 participants for 20 years revealed that heavy drinkers outlived non-drinkers, even when accounting for many other variables
DQVLg TIL Only 47 people live on the Pitcairn Islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Almost all of the residents are descendants of the mutineers of HMS Bounty, a British ship in 1790.