› added 1 year ago

54

TIL a French occultist built a device to test the hypothesis that snails create a permanent telepathic link when they mate.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

8NjG TIL The only countries to officially apologize for their role in American slavery have been African nations.
LQX70 TIL the earliest existing record of a telescope was a 1608 patent submitted to the government in the Netherlands by Middelburg spectacle maker Hans Lipperhey. The actual inventor is unknown but word of it spread through Europe. Galileo heard about it and, in 1609, built his own version.
W7GbL TIL The first Medals of Honor given to Americans for actions while fighting in a foreign country were awarded to nine sailors and six marines who fought in the Korean Expedition in 1871. Since 650 men were sent, this means 2% of them received the award.
BADr TIL of retronyms, words created to differentiate between two words, where previously no clarification was required, like acoustic guitar.
OGyE7 TIL that, in 1920s Paris, James Joyce would get drunk, start fights, and then hide behind Ernest Hemingway for protection, screaming, "Deal with him, Hemingway!"