› added 4 years ago

51

TIL the parliament of Iceland, Althing, is the oldest surviving parliament in the world. It was founded in 930 CE and still held sessions even after Iceland's union with Norway in the 1200s.

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JYEpQ TIL that it's only been illegal to sell your organs in the US since 1984, mainly to prevent the wealthy from having an unfair advantage.
neAVG TIL In search for a new mathematical model to replace the decimal system, Gottfried Wilhelm von Liebniz read a 3000 year old Chinese book “I Ching”. Fascinated by the simplicity of Yin and Yang, Liebniz used this philosophy to create the binary number system.
o9YA TIL that when a 10 year old girl with cancer was too sick to see UP in theaters, Pixar flew out a DVD and a Pixar employee to her home for a private screening. She died 7 hours later.
awNM TIL that Royal Navy Able Seacat, Simon (a real cat), was awarded medals for raising morale and killing rats aboard a navy ship
W7Omo TIL that nearly 1 billion adults worldwide are estimated to have sleep apnea, with most cases going undiagnosed.