› added 6 years ago

136

TIL that the term "rooster" originated in the United States as a puritan euphemism to avoid the sexual connotation of the original English word "cock".

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

KY0AR TIL the story of William Tell shooting the apple on his son's head was punishment for refusing to submit to an official. Tell would be executed if he didn't hit the apple with a crossbow bolt. Tell drew two bolts, and hit it with his first shot. The second bolt was to kill the official if he missed!
wojN8 TIL The bumblebee bat is the world’s smallest mammal. Found in Thailand and Myanmar, these bats have an average body length of just over 1 inch. Bumblebee bats are currently considered endangered.
NXQ9e TIL the sodium vapor process (aka yellowscreen) was extensively used by Disney as an alternative to the better-known bluescreen, to composite actors and background footage with less side effects on human skin tones. It featured in Mary Poppins (1964), and Dick Tracy (1990) marked its last known use.
1ox7 TIL 1994 American-born Israeli Baruch Goldstein, opened fire on unarmed Palestinian Muslims praying inside the Ibrahimi Mosque, killing 29,wounding 125. Up until then Hamas had refused to attack civilian targets inside Israel, and the change in Hamas’ policy was a result of Goldstein’s massacre
4X04w TIL that saying dark horse that describes unexpected winner is based on English prime minister Benjamin Disraeli's book "The Young Duke : A Moral Tale Though Gay" where mysterious dark horse wins the race against all odds