› added 3 months ago

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TIL on November 12, 1833, there was a meteor shower so intense that it was described as meteors "falling like snowflakes". It was so intense that it was thought to be the end of the world, but at the same time it gave birth to the study of meteor astronomy.

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6KxW TIL early printing presses used the letter “y” for the Middle English letter thorn (þ). “Ye” (definitive article), as in “ye olde”(pronounced “the old”), became commonplace, which contributed to the transition of “ye”(noun) to “thou” to avoid confusion, which eventually lead to “thou” to “you”.
dD6lQ TIL that from 2010 to 2017, for every 5 new residents in the State of California, only 1 new unit of housing was built
Oowlg TIL Aztec Emperor Montezuma realised his own seers were all charlatans because they’d failed to see that the Spanish were coming.
p8WJN TIL that one can die from laughter. Chrysippus of Soli, a Greek stoic philosopher is said to have died this way at the age of 73. As he watched a donkey eat some figs he died in a fit of laughter.
Lk49 TIL That Magpies hold funerals for their dead