› added 9 years ago

442

TIL that people build “spite houses” to piss off their neighbors.

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NLN1 TIL: There is a longer gap in time between the invention of the motorcycle and the first backflip on motorcycle, then there is the invention of flight and us landing on the moon.
JYgkk TIL that Chichen Itza was constructed so that on the spring and autumn equinox it creates the image of a snake slithering down the pyramid to honor the Mayan deity Kukulan, the Feathered Serpent.
nrNr TIL one of the most powerful earthquakes recorded in US history, the New Madrid Earthquakes of 1811-1812, were so powerful that they reversed the flow of the Mississippi River, rang church bells in Boston, and cracked sidewalks in Washington D.C.
OgVe TIL that the saying ‘to take with a grain of salt" comes from Pliny the Elder, who wrote about an antidote for a certain poison, having as one of its ingredients a measure of salt. He thought that if an antidote involved salt, then the poison itself should be regarded less seriously than normal.
Oovr1 TIL that the saying "O'Clock" is short form for "Of The Clock." It originated as early as the 14th century and was said to distinguish between other time telling methods.