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TIL that the constitution of Ancient Sparta (the "Great Rhetra") was simultaneously a state secret kept in text by the oracle of Delphi, as well as verbal and illegal for anyone to write down.

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Y7Odr TIL "30% chance of rain" doesn't mean that 30% of the area will get rain or it'll rain for 30% of time. It is multiplication of confidence and area. For ex if a forecaster is 50% confident that 50% of the area will receive rain then the forecast would read "a 25% chance of rain" for given location.
WaOd TIL that after the city of Rome was sacked in 410, the emperor Honorius was told that “Rome has perished”, which he interpreted to mean that his prized chicken “Rome” had died. When told it was the city instead, he breathed “a sigh of relief.”
N7GKb TIL For centuries Romans preserved a primitive house from early Roman settlements that was the reputed house of Romulus, legendary founder and first King of Rome.
l79p5 TIL that in 2007 BBC journalist Alan Yentob was caught out for having clips of himself nodding inserted into interviews on a TV show he fronted to make it appear that he had conducted them instead of other journalists
XeQR TIL The French Prime Minister proposed uniting France and Britain into a single country in 1957