› added 7 years ago

68

TIL that medieval moats served not only the purpose of being a physical barrier, but when water-filled were also able to prevent enemies from tunneling and undermining a wall, by saturating the ground making tunneling very difficult.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

eLon TIL that Penguins are too light to set off landmines, which has resulted in penguins flourishing in the Falkland Islands due to the landmines left behind by the Argentinian military and whalers being unable to get at them.
W1eX TIL that Liars Find It More Rewarding to Tell Truth Than Fib When Deceiving Others
NXAZJ TIL: Miyairi Norihiro is a modern legendary Japanese swordsmith who became the youngest person qualify as mukansa and won the Masamune prize in 2010. However, none of his blades are recognized as an ōwazamono as his blades would need to be tested on a cadaver or living person.
Z8Epo TIL Hollywood's current obsession with remakes won't include Back to the Future, says director Robert Zemeckis, at least not while he's alive -- and if he has his way, not when he's dead either. Adding that it "can’t happen until both Bob [Gale] and I are dead." Gale was co-writer on all three films
6ED5Q TIL that while working for web host Tripod, Ethan Zuckerman invented one of most hated tools in the advertiser’s toolkit: the pop-up ad."