› added 7 years ago

177

TIL: ‘Arabic’ numerals are actually Indian. They’re called Arabic numerals because Arab traders introduced them, not because Arabs invented them.

Read more wikipedia.org

via ift.tt

VVLG TIL Orlando Serrell suffered a traumatic brain injury when playing baseball as a kid that went untreated due to his families financial situation. However since the day of his accident he’s been able to recall every day of his life, including the date, day of the week and the weather.
g9wA TIL Robert Damiens, who tried to kill Louis XV, had his hand burned with sulphur. Molten wax, molten lead, and boiling oil were poured into him. Then he was partially dismembered by harnessed horses and the executioner completed it with an axe. Then his still-living torso was burnt at the stake.
N7Kyb TIL Beverly Hills, originally a Spanish lima bean ranch, was founded by a group of investors who failed to find oil and, upon finding water instead, founded the town. Black and Jewish people were forbidden from owning property.
jN1YE TIL Why the buttons for girls and guys’ clothes are on different sides: when button up clothes were invented, wealthy women were dressed by their servants, and men dressed themselves. Having buttons on different sides made it easier for servants to button.
JYx8V TIL that the mine car sequence in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom was originally to have appeared in Raiders of the Lost Ark, after the Ark is opened, and would have showed Indy and Marion loading the Ark on a mine car to escape with the rest of the Nazis in pursuit.