751
@qikipedia
The 17th century equivalent for ‘Go to hell!’ was ‘Turd in your teeth!’
752
@qikipedia
If there is anything the nonconformist hates worse than a conformist, it’s another nonconformist who doesn’t conform to the prevailing standard of nonconformity. BILL VAUGHAN
753
@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’.
754
@qikipedia
This ancient tablet includes a list of reasons that people missed work.
Reasons include being ill - but also such excuses as "brewing beer" and "drinking".
(Image: The Trustees of the British Museum; CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
755
@qikipedia
Word of the Day: TECHNOSTALGIA — nostalgia for old technology.
756
@qikipedia
A collection of some of the Elves' favourite bits from the late, fantastic Sean Lock on QI over the years:
youtu.be/YcGoVXDh0Ts
757
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Dutch people are getting shorter.
758
@qikipedia
JRR Tolkien invented Ents because when he was a schoolboy, he had been disappointed that Birnam Wood did not really "come to Dunsinane" in Macbeth.
759
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There are 4.5 hectares of forest per person in Finland, where deforestation has been illegal since 1886.
760
@qikipedia
One of the US’s largest stockpiles of nuclear weapons is guarded by trained military dolphins.
761
@qikipedia
The first marshmallows were made by boiling pulp from mallow plants with honey and sugar. Ancient Egyptians used it to treat sore throats. (Image: John Morgan CC-by-2.0)
762
@qikipedia
"In all of human history, there has never been more damage done than by people who thought they were doing the right thing." CHARLES SCHULZ
763
@qikipedia
Earlier this year, New Zealand police tried a new tactic to get protestors to disperse.
They played James Blunt's "You're Beautiful" at high volume.
764
@qikipedia
Crows can combine several lengths of stick to create a single tool – a skill only observed previously in humans and apes.
765
@qikipedia
The first official vegetarian society in Russia was co-founded in 1901 by a man called Burger.
766
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After a rabbi discovered in 2004 that New York City's tap water contains tiny crustaceans called copepods, the city's tap water is no longer considered kosher.
767
@qikipedia
"It is not true that the English invented cricket as a way of making all other human endeavours look interesting and lively... I don't wish to denigrate a sport that is enjoyed by millions, some of them awake and facing the right way, but it is an odd game." BILL BRYSON
768
@qikipedia
The pobblebonk frog is so called because when it croaks it sounds like it’s saying the word ‘pobblebonk’ (Image: Will Brown)
769
@qikipedia
Rocket scientists are not, on average, smarter than the general population.
770
@qikipedia
In the USA, Orthodox Jews make 18% of altruistic kidney donations (where a living donor gives an organ to a recipient he or she doesn't know). They are just 0.2% of the population.
771
@qikipedia
If the average person’s blood vessels were laid end to end they would reach around the Earth almost two and a half times (60,000 miles).
772
@qikipedia
Word of the Day: WISH-CYCLING — putting an item in a recycling bin in the hope that it can be recycled, usually when the item is not actually recyclable.
773
@qikipedia
Word of the Day: OMNIBIBULOUS — someone who drinks everything.
774
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This is the Australian orb-weaving spider commonly known as the ‘alien butt spider’. (Image: Robert Whyte)
775
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It seems to come around sooner every year! twitter.com/qikipedia/stat…
@qikipedia
A Quite Interesting Twitter feed from the team behind the BBC TV show QI.
linktr.ee/TheQIElves