› added 9 years ago

141

TIL More people live in California than Canada.

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via reddit.com

0wQvM TIL that the superstitious tradition of knocking on wood for good luck is believed to have been conceived by ancient Indo-European people who believed that spirits (both good and bad) lived within the trees. By knocking on a tree one was asking for a blessing from the spirit which lived within.
GYZ94 TIL Rats laugh when they're tickled too, but they giggle at 50kHz, which is out of our audio range.
9w1D6 TIL that of the 12 Nobel Prizes awarded to Americans up to 1931, over half were for Peace
DQVkP TIL: The Carrington Event in 1859 cause auroras so bright and far south that Rocky Mountain miners in the US woke up and started preparing breakfast because they thought it was morning. Such an event today would be catastrophic with our dependence on electricity and electronic devices.
KYXR4 TIL that the island of crete briefly was an islamic emirate in the 8th to 9th century called the emirate of crete, formed by Andalusian exiles(spanish muslims).The emirate was known for pirate activities until it was reconquered by the Byzantine empire.