› added 4 months ago

17

TIL that according to legend, St. Odran of Iona was buried alive, with his consent, on the Scottish island of Iona in 563. They then built a chapel above him.

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Pxbg TIL that Jeremy Wade, (the guy from River Monsters) at “various times in his journey around the world, was detained as a suspected spy, caught malaria, threatened at gunpoint, survived a plane crash, and survived drowning.
r0we TIL Christopher Columbus used a lunar eclipse, predicted by European science, to persuade Jamaican natives that he was a God. This convinced them to continue feeding him and his men, at great personal loss.
b6DOE TIL Nikola Tesla originally expected to live to 150 years, but later changed this estimate to 135 years after he gave up alcohol due to prohibition. He regularly charged his body to high voltages to help aid longevity.
m1nxE TIL some mattresses literally have fiberglass in them. CA is the only state in the US to have banned this practice - as of October 2023.
oBPLL TIL the word "literally" has been used figuratively for hundreds of years. Charles Dickens, Charlotte Brontë, Jane Austen, and Mark Twain all used it for hyperbole.