ten things i didn't know until last week

1. 'The Watchmen' is the only superhero comic to win the Hugo Award.
More details

2. The Republic of Kalmykia - a federal subject of the Russian Federation - is the only European state where the dominant religion is Buddhism.
More details

3. Umami - Japanese for 'brothy' or 'savory' - is the fifth of the 5 recognised basic tastes that the human tongue can sense. The other 4 are bitter, salty, sour and sweet.
More details

4. The term negawatt refers to power gained from adding efficiency to the electricity grid.
More details

5. Jazz legend Duke Ellington is the first African-American to appear solo on a circulating US coin.
More details

6, The word 'gun' for firearms is derived from 'Lady Gunilda'- the name given to a missile-thrower/large crossbow used to defend Windsor Castle in the 14th century.
More details

7. Enola Gay, the B-29 Superfortress bomber that dropped the first atomic bomb in history was named for its pilot Paul Tibbets' mother, Enola Gay Tibbets.
More details

8. There are twice as many privately-owned tigers in the US as there are in the wild in the rest of the world.
More details

9. Creative Technology invented the NOMAD two years before the iPod was launched and received $100 million for patent infringment from Apple.
More details

10. Slavery was officially established in Virginia in 1654, when Anthony Johnson, a black man, convinced a court that his servant (also black) John Casor was his for life. The court ruled in Johnson’s favor, and the very first officially state-recognized slave was actually enslaved by another black man.
More details

Discover more at the complete 'ten things i didn't know until last week'.

[Original pic by bennylin0724]

Comments

[Robyn McIntyre]

Great facts, especially the last about slavery in Virginia. Irony.

[Mikej]

I was thinking the irony of the last one as well

I also love the japanese sense one

great list

[blaiq]

@Robyn and Mike: Thanks.

In fact, I checked and rechecked the slavery bit before posting it - it seemed too ironic to have actually happened. Unfortunately, it is true.