› added 11 years ago

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TIL the french use the expression “the english have landed” to say a woman is on her period.

Read more french.about.com

via reddit.com

wY9M TIL that the Gingko biloba tree species is 270 million years old, rarely suffers disease or insect attack and was one of the only living things to survive the Hiroshima nuclear bombing - the trees healed quickly and are still alive today.
jn4n TIL lab researchers have been able to manipulate specific memories using beams of laser light, creating, deleting, and altering emotional content: positive memories have been rendered negative and vice-versa.
enVL TIL Woodrow Wilson is the only US President with a PhD.
YZdx TIL Chef Boyardee received awards for his food from both the Americans and the Russians for supplying them with food during WWII. Although he was unable to acknowledge the Russian award due to the Cold War
Bgx9e TIL of the Hockey-Falco thesis which says the renaissance realist painters used devices made with mirrors and pinholes to project an image of the subject onto a canvas, the painter would then simply trace over the image to make the painting. It's also used to forge famous paintings.