1076
@qikipedia
15% of Britons take 70% of the flights.
1077
@qikipedia
Scientists discovered the pale giant oak aphid in Central Europe in 2012 but didn’t realise the UK had a population for eight years because ants were keeping them in secret farms.
1078
@qikipedia
After the Scottish Reformation, the lands of the Church were divided by the Crown into temporary lordships. The act of creation of these lordships was known as ‘erection’, and people who received them were officially known as the ‘Lords of Erection’.
1079
@qikipedia
The advantage of a bad memory is that one can enjoy the same good things for the first time, several times. FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE
1080
@qikipedia
Birds have local dialects.
1081
@qikipedia
75 acts are competing to represent San Marino at @Eurovision 2022. That’s more than three acts for every square mile of San Marino.
1082
@qikipedia
Statistician Craig Anderson calculated the cost of completing the Euro 2020 sticker book. To get 90% of the stickers - without swapsies - would cost an average of £893.70
1083
@qikipedia
The New Jersey volunteer campaign to rescue thousands of stranded horseshoe crabs by flipping them the right way up is called 'ReTURN the Favor’.
1084
@qikipedia
Word of the day: SMYSTER (19th century Scots) - to smile to yourself while daydreaming
1085
@qikipedia
Bees are now legally considered a type of fish in California.
1086
@qikipedia
In 2017, the Swiss village of Bergün/Bravuogn made it illegal for tourists to take photos there because "it is scientifically proven that beautiful holiday photos on social media make the viewer unhappy because they cannot be there themselves".
(Image: Adrian Michael; CC BY-SA.)
1087
@qikipedia
The belief that ideas from the past are by default worse than ideas of the modern age is called chronological snobbery.
1088
@qikipedia
There are more ancient Egyptian obelisks in Rome than in Egypt.
1089
@qikipedia
Before the invention of rubber condoms, Japanese men used condoms made of tortoiseshell.
(Image: Wellcome Collection / Science Museum, London; CC BY.)
1090
@qikipedia
Word of the Day: DIURNATION - the habit of sleeping during the day
1091
@qikipedia
The English word ‘fact’ originally meant an action or deed, particularly an evil one (from the Latin ‘facere’ - to do). It only acquired the sense of ‘something known to be true’ around 400 years ago.
1092
@qikipedia
Mosquitos don't like EDM.
1093
@qikipedia
Word of the day: FLÂNEUR - a person who strolls through the city, people-watching
1094
@qikipedia
The word ‘bridal’ comes from ‘bride ale’, a traditional wedding feast typically involving ale drinking.
1095
@qikipedia
La Paz, Bolivia, has "traffic zebras" to direct traffic and make sure drivers obey road rules near zebra crossings.
(Image: Micaelagaymer; CC BY-SA.)
1096
@qikipedia
The word ZODIAC is not related to the stars; it comes from the Greek for "circle of little animals".
1097
@qikipedia
Phrase of the day: FARE LA SCARPETTA (Italian) - using a piece of bread to mop the last bits of pasta sauce
(Image: James; CC BY-NC-ND.)
1098
@qikipedia
The gravestone of Merv Griffin, a talk show host and the creator of TV shows ‘Jeopardy!’ and ‘Wheel of Fortune’, says ‘I will not be right back after this message’. [📷: Ben Churchill.]
1099
@qikipedia
Word of the day: GUBBSJUKA (Swedish) - literally "old man sickness", when old men lust after (much) younger women
1100
@qikipedia
Near the Norwegian village of Grense Jakobselv, the border between Norway and Russia runs in the river Jakobselva. The Norwegian bank of the river has a sign that says ‘No peeing towards Russia’.
@qikipedia
A Quite Interesting Twitter feed from the team behind the BBC TV show QI.
linktr.ee/TheQIElves