› added 6 years ago

92

TIL the Mesoamerican ballgame played by the ancient Aztecs and Mayans might have been used as a subsitute for warfare.

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p80v4 TIL the phrase "mad as a hatter" originates from East England where hat-makers in the area suffered from dementia-induced insanity due to inhaling fumes from burning mercury as a part of the hat-making process.
XEdeQ TIL the Maryland State House is the oldest U.S. state capitol building that is still in continuous legislative use having been in use since 1772.
wjL8 TIL in 2001 a man robbed his victims by cutting hazelnuts in half, inserting a sedative drug, and glueing them back together. He would wait for them to pass out, and then steal their belongings.
KVDa TIL that a pregnant Indian woman swam nearly 1 kilometer across a swollen river to give birth in a hospital instead of her home
dDn9Z TIL that the Babylonian Talmud contains an argument between 1st-2nd century rabbis about whether the "plague of frogs" in the book of Exodus was actually just one really big frog