› added 2 years ago

105

TIL that there exists a poisonous bird: the hooded pitohui.

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via reddit.com

yVyrJ TIL: Josephine Stephenson, the soprano in Tenebrae's "Miserere mei, Deus" YouTube video, wasn’t scheduled to be there
GAw0j TIL that tanks bear that name because the producers in England were originally told they were to carry water on the battlefield. The name stuck even after they found out they were killing machines.
VQo0 TIL that gyro, döner, and shawarma are just the Greek, Turkish, and Arabic names for the same dish. All three words mean “to turn,” referring to the turning spit of meat used in the cooking process.
X0KO8 TIL selling of contraception were banned in Ireland until 1980. Irish women circumvented the ban by complaining of heavy or irregular periods to doctor, and prescribed pill under a medical pretext.
LkoBQ TIL the story of Isaac Newton watching an apple fall out of a tree often misses an important detail, it was a windy day. The wind blew the apple at an angle as it fell. This caused Newton to wonder if an object could fall at such an angle that it never hits the ground, aka an orbit.