› added 6 years ago

148

TIL that a Scottish parliamentarian introduced a bill to decriminalize homosexuality in England after his gay brother killed himself. It passed. He wrote another bill to protect badgers. It failed. When asked why the latter didn’t pass, he snorted “There are not many badgers in the House of Lords.”

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

loPkr Today I learned that the first Steam Engine was invented in Alexandria,Egypt in the 1st century AD. The Egyptians couldnt find any practical use to it and the tecnology was lost in history until beeing re-invented in the 17 century!
yQNOJ TIL that the Chinese government's official found out that ice cubes found at Chinese KFC chain were 12 times dirtier than toilet water-and 19 times the national bacteria level standard
epZl5 TIL that Nauru, the third smallest country in the world (8sq miles) had a 10 year civil war in 1878 that saw the island's population fall from ~1500 to >1000, sparked by the introduction of firearms. It eventually ended when the German Empire intervened and confiscated >700 rifles.
1a6vV Almost nothing looks more orderly than chess pieces before a match starts. The first move, however, begins a spiral into chaos. After both players move, 400 possible board setups exist. After the second pair of turns, there are 197,742 possible games, and after three moves, 121 million. At every turn, players chart a progressively more distinctive path, and each game evolves into one that has probably never been played before.
E10V TIL: That “Chimpanzees, who cannot swim, have drowned in zoo moats trying to save others.” And “Given the chance to get food by pulling a chain that would also deliver an electric shock to a companion, Rhesus monkeys will starve themselves for several days.”