› added 1 year ago

36

TIL the Inca Empire had a messenger system so fast it could deliver a message over 300 km (190 miles) in a single day, thanks to a network of elite runners known as "chasquis". It was so efficient that even in Cuzco, hundreds of km away from the sea, the Inca ruler could enjoy fresh fish

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

p8Rr8 TIL It is so cold in Svalbard, they cannot properly bury anyone in a coffin, since the body won't decompose.
KOje6 TIL about UY Scuti, the largest-known star by radius. It is 1700 times bigger than our sun, and it would take 1200 years to fly around it in a 900km/h regular passenger airplane. If Earth was in its habitable zone, it would take 10.000 years for one full rotation, each season lasting 2500 years.
OogO7 TIL there is an island in Ethiopia where Christian Ethiopians claim to have kept the Ark of Covenant for thousands of years. It is watched over by a single man with no name known as the "Guardian" and no woman are allowed on the island for fear of "stirring the passions" of the virgins on the island
EgJVo TIL the term “hipster,” in fact, drew from the Chinese opium smoker of the 1800s, who’d spent much of his time smoking while reclining on one hip. The hipster counterculture took inspiration from heroin-addicted jazz greats like Charlie Parker and John Coltrane.”
nGaG TIL that RJ Mitte, Walt Jr on “Breaking Bad” has Cerebral Palsy in real life just like his character did on the show, except he doesn’t use crutches in real life. He also plays a disabled person on the show “Separated at Birth”, who is in a wheel chair.