› added 4 years ago

98

TIL there's a fearsome creature in North American mythology that's basically a little puppy in the shape of an axe, and it hops about from camp to camp to eat the axehandles belonging inattentive lumberjacks

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

68bw TIL that Laurie Holden (Andrea from the Walking Dead) is a member of Operation Underground Railroad, whose mission is to hunt down sex traffickers. She was recently part of a sting in Columbia which resulted in the arrest of 12 criminals and the rescue of 55 sex trafficking victims.
WklBY TIL Empress Catherine the Great had an intimate relationship with philosopher Dennis Diderot. They had daily meetings talking politics and philosophy during which Diderot would make his points by slapping the monarch's thighs. She emerged from their meeting with her thighs "bruised and quite black"
DE4v TIL of Stefania Follini, an Italian interior designer recruited by NASA in ‘89 for an experiment in Circadian Rhythms, where she spent 4 months in underground isolation proving our bodies naturally fall into 28 and 48 hour days
Y1wr TIL Teddy Roosevelt Jr (son of President Theodore Roosevelt) was the oldest man to invade the beaches of Normandy, the only man to invade Normandy with his son (Cpt. Quentin Roosevelt II on Omaha Beach), and he was the only general to lead his troops (on Omaha beach with only a cane and a pistol)
Wk5nA TIL fireworks were invented in China sometime between 200 BC and 900 AD. It is believed Marco Polo brought fireworks from China to Europe in 1295, and the global popularity exploded after that. In 1830, colors were added in Italy by adding different metallic powders.