› added 11 months ago

36

TIL that during the construction of the New Basin Canal in NOLA the loss of slaves to yellow fever prompted the decision to use cheap Irish laborers instead.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

aweP9 TIL Sheela na gig. A figurative carvings of naked women displaying an exaggerated vulva that are found all over Europe.
rN141 TIL our best theory of why we sleep is because our brain uses spine juice to wash away the doody proteins
4kRd6 TIL about the "Siglas Poveiras", a very local writing system in north Portugal that is used by families as coas or fisherman symbols. It's believed that came from for norse settlers runes that lived in the region.
6APY TIL: The White House runs linux on all of its computers.
yQNle TIL at the height of the Grateful Dead's touring years, Jerry Garcia was using $1800 (adjusted for inflation) worth of drugs per day.