› added 10 years ago

63

TIL that despite the Seven Years’ War between Britain and France, France instructed its ships not to interfere with the Endeavour’s expedition to Tahiti to observe the 1769 Transit of Venus as, it was ‘out on enterprises of service to all mankind’.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

d86oQ TIL A "cobble" is an actual size of rock, defined on the Udden–Wentworth scale as between 64–256 millimeters (2.5–10.1 in), larger than a pebble and smaller than a boulder.
vjnD TIL for those of you with the fairly standard English surname “Smith”, your Italian equivalent surname is “Ferrari”. They both mean blacksmith.
wWr1 TIL a biker got a flat tire in the motorway, a man in a van stopped to help him and decided to carry the bike in the van. Minutes after departing the man suffered a stroke while driving, the biker then performed CPR following 112 instructions whilst waiting for the ambulance and saved the man’s life
ZoP4 TIL once America Online Instant Messenger (AIM) held 52% market share. By June 2011, that had collapsed to only 0.73%.
9Ybmp TIL that J.K Rowlings real name is Joanne Rowling. She called herself J.K Rowling because she didn't want her targeted audience (boys) to not want to read her book because it was written by a girl.