› added 7 years ago

383

It’s true that the plains of Kansas are a more familiar backdrop for tornadoes than Times Square, but the funnels can form just about anywhere if the conditions are right.

Read more popsci.com

wpxP TIL The Egyptians, not Julius Caesar, were the fathers of the modern calendar. The Roman calendar was lunar and had 355 days. Egyptians knew it was 365 days because the Nile would peak on the same day each year. Caesar learned this from his affair with Cleopatra and created the Julian calendar.
xkd7 TIL The first time a Navajo baby laughs, the family throws a party. The person who made the baby laugh provides the food.
x0J5 TIL China is the birthplace of the seismograph. Built in 132 AD, it consisted of 8 metal dragons holding 8 carved balls over 8 frogs. If an earthquake made the ground vibrate, the dragon facing the quake’s source would drop a ball into the mouth of its corresponding frog.
WkwEB TIL A 40,000-year-old bracelet was found in Siberia. It was made by an extinct human species called Denisovans. Homosapians did not produce bracelets of this technical sophistication until 10,000 years ago. It is one of the oldest pieces of jewellery ever discovered.
p8RNZ TIL: The Beethoven family is not German, but Belgian. The grandfather was a talented singer and later became music master (Kapelmeister) at the Court of Bonn. His talents jumped a generation to manifest in the grandson, who had the same name as the grandfather: Ludwig van Beethoven!