› added 9 years ago

200

TIL… Handshakes were originally meant to make sure that the person you were meeting wasn’t carrying a concealed weapon. The hand clasp proved that your hand was empty and shaking was meant to dislodge any weapons hiding up the sleeve. Source: http://ift.tt/2dN6n8I

Read more factsd.com

via factsd.com

PYOWZ TIL that a practical joker once set 70 old tires on fire inside Mount Edgecumbe, a dormant volcano in Alaska. Local residents thought the volcano was erupting until they saw "APRIL FOOL" spray-painted in 50-foot letters around the rim of the crater. He had been planning the prank for four years.
0Ov1 TIL in 2010, Japanese welfare officials went to check on a 111-year old man, the family refused to let them see him. Returning with police, they found his mummified corpse still wearing pajamas. The man had died in 1980, but the family hid his death so they could continue to collect his pension.
w1jW TIL A lab technician accidentally created a burst of nuclear fission and was exposed to radiation levels 7 times above lethal limits in under a second.
oRrXA TIL that pyramid schemes were such a problem in Albania that in 1997 the country was engulfed in a civil war for the next 6 months due to its citizens being scammed, losing nearly 1.2 billion USD, while having a nominal GDP of 2.25 billion USD.
9Yv0M TIL The Cadaver Synod was the posthumous trial of Pope Formosus. His corpse was dug up and found guilty, and his papacy voided. His corpse was then thrown in the River Tiber, but became a source of miracles. His trial was then overturned and he was reburied, but a later pope upheld the conviction.