› added 4 years ago

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TIL of catastrophism, a 19th century geological school of thought which saw the large fossil record as evidence proving the existence of a world previous to ours, destroyed by sudden natural catastrophes such as great floods and the rapid formation of major mountain chains.

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QWWp TIL that “nice”, when first used in English, meant “foolish, stupid, senseless”. It came through early French from the Latin nescius, meaning “ignorant”, literally “not-knowing”.
VB154 TIL: NY, NJ, MA, and MN addresses paranormal activity in their real estate disclosure laws. In NJ, a seller must inform the buyer that their property is haunted if asked and in New York, a home sale is rescinded if the seller creates and perpetuates a reputation that the home is haunted.
10mO TIL Early Zenith TV remotes changed channels by sound. When you push the button, a small hammer strikes an aluminum rod, triggering a sound above our hearing range that’s picked up by the TV.
pXdN TIL James Cameron pitched the movie Titanic to the movie studios so that they would fund his diving expedition; not because he wanted to make the movie.
lAgr TIL an entire village in Spain bought tickets in a national lottery. When they won, each villager received at least 100K$, except one man who didn’t buy a ticket.