› added 7 years ago

121

TIL the first known instance of a railway was not in modern history - written references place it as early as 600BC. The Diolkos, a grooved road paved with hard limestone, was used to roll ships across the land, saving long transport times on goods and assisting in naval campaigns.

X0E5P TIL: stereotypes about "stupid, lazy Southerners" in the US were caused by centuries of hookworm infection which causes lethargy, anemia and iron deficiency. These, in turn, negatively affect growth and intellectual development in children.
kOyOW TIL that Americans spend around $72B in lottery tickets every year, with the chances of winning being less likely than getting attacked by a shark, being killed by a vending machine, being elected president, being struck by lightning, coming down with the plague, or being killed by a falling coconut
JYoQk TIL Your song by Elton John is 50 years old!
p8g5N TIL the Gendarmerie of Haiti, the collaborationist police-force raised by the USA during its occupation of Haiti in the early 1900s, sent a rifle team of indigenous gendarmes to the 1924 Olympics. The team won the nation's first-ever Olympic medal, a bronze, in the team free rifle event.
XEoVE TIL That in The Great Gatsby, Gatsby gave himself the name "Jay" because he believed it sounded upper-class and sophisticated, while in reality, the term "jay" was used as an insult during the early 1900s (when the novel took place) to describe an ignorant or inexperienced person.