› added 9 years ago

1581

TIL Parmesan is not pronounced how I once thought it was (Press the listen button)

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yVVpJ TIL Napoleon made Bavaria a kingdom, adopted his wife's non-noble niece, gave her a title and dowry, and got her engaged to a powerful prince, just so he could get his step-son to marry another powerful princess, who had been previously engaged to the prince
4kbNw TIL that those "raw" cashews you buy at the store aren't really raw! Truly raw cashews contain urushiol, the same stuff that makes poison ivy so irritating. To make them safe to eat, cashews are steamed, roasted, or boiled to remove the urushiol.
PObV TIL that the name Russia comes from Viking Norsemen travelled and traded using the rivers of Eastern Europe. They were called “the men who row” or “Rus’”. They later formed the Tsardom of Russia.
wLjE8 TIL that most stars exist in binary or triple star systems. It is hypothesized that up to 85% of stars are gravitationally bound to another star in a multiple star system. Therefore, solitary stars (such as the Sun) are actually not the norm in the universe, but in fact are a rarity.
b96ea TIL that, after a series of shark attacks in 2010, Egyptian officials claimed that "the GPS tracking device found on one of the sharks was in fact a "guiding device" planted by Israeli agents"