› added 1 year ago

54

TIL that Eratosthenes, the man who calculated the circumference of the Earth, also calculated various dates of the Trojan war.

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neVMG TIL of the drunkard's cloak, a barrel with holes for the head and arms that was put on drunk people to publically shame them in a march through their town. The punishment was used in the UK, USA, Netherlands and Denmark.
rNEee TIL Members Only, a popular brand of jackets in the 1980s, spent its entire 6 million dollar ad budget in 1986 on anti-drug public service announcements.
8mxb TIL that the name “Annie” in the Michael Jackson song Smooth Criminal is based on the name of the mannequin commonly used in CPR training. Trainees are taught to say “Annie, are you OK?” to the dummy in order to check that the patient is conscious and responsive.
e0yGn TIL blanket octopuses are immune to the sting of Portuguese man-o-wars and have been known to collect stinging tentacles from the jellyfish-like creatures and wield them like weapons to fend off predators.
VB5wp TIL Feudal Japan thought a mythical catfish that lived deep in the earth was the cause of earthquakes and other natural disasters.