› added 1 month ago

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TIL modern American Christmas customs began from an 1812 book by Washington Irving, who wrote of St Nicholas soaring over treetops in a flying wagon. He also wrote of Christmas celebrations at a quaint English manor, which were actually from a bygone era.

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aw6Yy TIL of the kākāpō—a nocturnal, flightless parrot that drags its face along the ground to navigate and has a mating ritual where the male digs a hole in a hill, lays down in it and makes loud noises all night until a female takes interest in him.
OXP6 TIL that wine is cheaper than bottled water in Australia.
W799X Today I learned that looking at the rocks lower left of the famous portrait depicting Napoléon's crossing of the Alps by Jacques-Louis David, it is seen that the names of Hannibal and Charlemagne, who had previously crossed the Alps, were engraved.
Z8v1R TIL that the shamisen, a Japanese stringed instrument, was traditionally made of dog or cat skin
GYeRQ TIL of Thomas Cochrane, a Scottish earl, who left the Royal Navy in disgrace, and then joined the Chilean Navy to help it fight for independence.