› added 11 years ago

81

TIL there is a giant softshell turtle that spends 95% of its life buried and motionless under river sand, surfacing just twice a day to take a breath.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

vPOM7 TIL Canada's 2nd Amendment is the transferring control of Prince Rupert's Land to Canada from Hudson Bay Company
oR9YR TIL that the phrase "Novus ordo seclorum" (New Order of the Ages) on the Great Seal of the United States originates from a work by the Roman poet Virgil
gMPd4 TIL that the Yoshiro Nakamatsu, inventor of the floppy disk, would routinely almost drown himself to push his brain and body to the limit in order to feed his inventiveness.
5YLVD TIL Londoners in the 1600s were advised to keep "fart jars"— consisting of trapped fart odors—on hand to combat bubonic plague. The idea was that the potent smell would somehow purify the air.
694YY TIL: In 1962, a bear caused a false alarm at a US air base and almost caused nuclear war