› added 1 year ago

53

TIL that during the French Revolution, the French used a completely different calendar system in an effort to remove all religious and loyalist influence from their calendar. It lasted for about 12 years.

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PYanw TIL Will Ferrell's jumpy reactions to the jack-in-the-box's in "Elf" were genuine, as director Jon Favreau was controlling them remotely offstage.
8aVKX TIL John Stark, an unpaid rescuer of the Donner Party who refused to leave any of the 9 dying survivors, mostly children, behind (unlike his paid partners who just grabbed one kid each and left). He carried 2-3 at a time, then went back and repeated the process. Stark, and all 9, survived.
NKoM TIL that in the 17th century the Finnish people used a measure called Poronkusema: the distance a reindeer can walk before needing to urinate.
LQVPQ TIL people can hear if pouring water is hot or cold
GYRNN TIL a Navy Seal Lieutenant, Michael P. Murphy, along with a 4-man team were pinned down by nearly 100 Taliban Militants in a remote part of Afghanistan. Murphy made his way to a high-point in the mountains to successfully phone in reinforcements. He continued to fight for 2 hours until his death.