› added 8 years ago

119

TIL that whether Marco Polo actually traveled to China is unclear. No Chinese record mentions him. His account of the trip never mentions the Great Wall, Chinese characters, chopsticks, or footbinding.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

wL51 TIL Isaac Newton was like Dirty Harry in 17th century London - chasing counterfeiters of the Royal Mint, bribing crooks for info, threatening criminals and their famlies, eventually focusing on his nemesis. And then he burned all his notes to cover his dirty ways of catching crooks.
vP6a7 TIL: Socrates was very worried that the increasing use of books in education would have the effect of ruining students' ability to memorise things. We only remember this now because Plato wrote it down.
LQXdp TIL A standard outcome measure used by doctors to measure chronic rhonosinusitis is the Sino-nasal outcome test, or SNOT.
E6yx TIL Michael J. Fox negotiated the deal for Family Ties from a phone booth because he didn’t have a phone at home. He was told the network would need to call, and he said he was only home between the hours of four and five. He waited for the call, and fortunately he was there to answer it
kOnXe TIL that drinking tea is thought to have significant health benefits including reduced stress, improved focus & attention, and better memory