› added 11 years ago

76

TIL There was a 20ft tall ancient sloth…

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Z8jYv TIL the first European explorer to see Hawaii was Captain James Cook on Nov. 26, 1778, when he and his two ships anchored offshore of Kahului. However, he did not come ashore on Maui. As Cook sailed down Maui’s northeastern coastline, a royal double-hulled canoe approached from the Hana coastline.
OgrY TIL: The producer recording “Sweet Child O’ Mine” with Guns n’ Roses suggested there be a breakdown at the end of the song. The band had no idea where to take the song, resulting in the iconic repetition of “Where do we go now?”
dDEp7 TIL about shotgun houses - narrow rectangular houses about 12 feet wide that were popular in the Southern United States from the end of the American Civil War through the 1920s.
Me41K TIL that same-sex sexual activity is punishable by death in Iran, but Iranians can get a state-sponsored sex change operation to avoid punishment. Iran performs more sex reassignment surgeries than any other country in the world after Thailand.
Bgp1e TIL in 2010 a temple was consecrated to Angrezi Devi, the "Dalits Goddess of English," in the village of Banka, India. Goddess English was meant to help Dalits overcome class barriers via language. However, local officials shut down the temple in 2013, and Goddess English was forced into "exile."