› added 5 years ago

683

TIL that there is only one Jew left in Afghanistan, Zabulon Simentov, who runs his own synagogue. The second-to-last Jew, who hated Simentov, also ran his own synagogue. The two hated interacting with each other so much that the Taliban released them after they kept fighting in custody.

Read more jta.org

via reddit.com

LQNxQ TIL: In the Led Zeppelin song Kashmir, the guitar parts are in 3/4 time while the drums are in 4/4 time
R7vP8 TIL: In 2011, new students at the Wabash College in Indiana were required to play the video game Portal as part of a course on what it means to be human. The course discussed how Portal's villain presents different versions of themselves, showing a public face, while hiding a different private face.
awllN TIL when John Lennon performed "Woman Is the N****r of the World" on the Dick Cavett Show, Cavett was told to apologise for the song's content before the performance. The show received about 600 letters of complaint - but all criticized Cavett's apology, not the song's lyrics.
v1jLK TIL that the name Vanessa was invented by Jonathan Swift for Esther Vanhomrigh who was a longtime lover of his. The name was created by taking "Van" from Vanhomrigh and adding "Essa", a pet form of Esther.
grLY7 TIL: Macaco Tião holds the record for being the most voted chimpanzee in the world. In 1988 he was placed on the ballot for mayor as a protest vote and received over 400,000 votes, taking 3rd place among 12 candidates. After the event, the voting system was changed.