› added 11 months ago

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TIL that the oldest football (soccer) ball dates back to 1540. It's half the size of a normal ball and was made from the bladder of a pig.

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via reddit.com

LQNG9 TIL that honey never spoils, and archaeologists have found perfectly preserved honey in ancient Egyptian tombs.
K1M6 TIL that Singapore Airlines flight 21 which had the longest non-stop flight (18 hours), from Singapore to New Jersey, had special lockers on the plane to store corpses if people died en route since the flight path over the Pacific Ocean and North Pole meant the plane couldn’t land if someone died.
YVxG TIL there is an actual measurable difference between a pond and a lake. “If the water is deep enough that light does not get to the bottom, the body of water is considered a lake. A pond is a body of water shallow enough to support rooted plants.”
mxdVv TIL of Girgori Perelman, the only person in history to have solved one of the seven Millennium Prize Problems. After solving the Poincaré conjecture Perelman was offered the Field's Medal and $1 million prize money, he declined them both.
JYwAj TIL Female humans, pilot whales and killer whales are unique among animals: they are the only three mammals known to undergo menopause. This allows them to help their children survive into adulthood and—if they’re lucky—to act as grandmothers to the next generation.