› added 9 years ago

417

TIL that the contract used in The Hobbit is a fully-functioning legal document.

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mrxy TIL that the largest earthquake to ever be recorded hit Chile in 1960, measuring M9.5. The earthquake lasted for 10 minutes with tsunamis of 8 & 10m. The fault rupture was 800km long, 1/50 of the circumference of the earth.
D1LrY TIL Mongolian shepherds use female golden eagles to defend against wolves.
b6MwQ TIL Montgomery's memoirs criticised many of his wartime comrades harshly, including Eisenhower. After publishing it, he had to apologize in a radio broadcast to avoid a lawsuit. He was also stripped of his honorary citizenship of Alabama, and was challenged to a duel by an Italian lawyer.
VMwWk TIL that polydactyly (having many fingers) in cats was seen by sailors as advantageous for catching mice aboard ships. Consequently there is a high proportion of these cats in sea port areas such as Boston, Nova Scotia and Great Britain.
946G TIL that LSD cured a holocaust survivor from Auschwitz’s PTSD and allowed him to sleep for the first time in 30 years without nightmares