› added 10 months ago

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TIL about skeuomorphism, when modern objects, real or digital, retain features of previous designs even when they aren't functional. Examples include the very tiny handle on maple syrup bottles, faux buckles on shoes, the floppy disk 'save' icon, or the sound of a shutter on a cell phone camera.

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Br7De TIL that in 1777 Thomas Jefferson drafted the Virginia Statue for Religious Freedom. When it was enacted, religious freedom was guaranteed to all persons, including Muslims, Jews, and Hindus. In addition it also was one of three things listed on Jefferson's grave.
mxZQy TIL Ravoux's slavemaker ant is a species where the queen can fake her own death to encourage ants from a rival colony to drag her body back to the nest. When there, she kills the nest's queen and bathes in her pheromones, becoming the new queen. Her soldiers overrun the colony and take control.
KBME TIL Joseph Stalin Intended To Be A Priest, But Was Kicked Out Of Seminary For Missing Final Exams
YpPr TIL the Leaning Tower of Pisa was almost destroyed by the Allied Forces because it was being used as an observation post by Germany. A soldier who was sent to confirm the use by the Germans prevented the airstrike that would have destroyed it because he was impressed by the beauty of it.
O8rg TIL around 1000 AD the Inca skull surgeons performed “trepanation” a procedure to relieve intracranial pressure on people with head trauma. By 1400 AD the fatality rate of the procedure was down to 10%