We still understand little of the Etruscan language.
Although the Etruscans influenced the ancient Greeks and Romans —the Romans even used Etruscan characters to create our current Latin script— we only have limited understanding of the Etruscan language.
In Sweden, 29 February 1712 was followed by 30 February.
The country had switched from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar but a mistake caused it to be two days out of sync with others.
In 1712, it reverted to the Julian calendar and added two leap days as a fix.
The Soviet Union was the largest country in the world.
During its existence from 1922 to 1991, the Soviet Union covered 22 402 200 square kilometres reaching Central Europe in the west and East Asia in the east, spanned eleven time zones and bordered twelve countries.
The southern African Guagga went extinct in Amsterdam.
Guaggas were a subspecies of Africa’s Plains Zebra.
Staff at the Amsterdam Zoo ‘Natura Artis Magistra’ didn’t know they had been looking after the last remaining specimen of the species when it died in 1883.
Brandolini’s Law holds that “the amount of energy needed to refute bullshit is an order of magnitude bigger than that needed to produce it”.
Also known as the ‘bullshit asymmetry principle’, the adage was coined in 2013 by Alberto Brandolini after a Berlusconi debate.
Marie Skłodowska Curie was the first person to win Nobel Prizes in two different fields.
She received the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics jointly with her husband Pierre for researching radioactivity, and the 1911 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for discovering radium and polonium.
Until 1752, the new year in England and Wales began on 25 March.
When, in 1752, England switched to the Gregorian calender, 11 days were skipped as 14 September followed 2 September.
To this day, the UK’s tax year starts on 6 April, 11 days after 25 March, the original new year.
MediaFaro Magazine
Charnita Fance
