#factoftheday — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #factoftheday, aggregated by home.social.
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In 2014, Spain announced a new law granting citizenship to descendants of Sephardic Jews expelled in the 15th century.
The 1492 ‘Alhambra Decree’ had forced Jews to convert to Christianity or be expelled. The 2014 move acknowledged the historical injustice.
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Białowieża Forest is one of the last and the largest remaining parts of the immense primeval forest that once stretched across the European Plain.
The World Heritage Site straddles the border between Poland and Belarus and is home to the wisent, Europe’s heaviest land animal.
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Pelicans have been living in London’s St James’s Park since 1664, when the Russian Ambassador gave a pair of Great White pelicans to King Charles II as a diplomatic gift.
The animals have always been manually replaced because, until June 2026, they never successfully hatched chicks.
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Pelicans have been living in London’s St James’s Park since 1664, when the Russian Ambassador gave a pair of Great White pelicans to King Charles II as a diplomatic gift.
The animals have always been manually replaced because, until June 2026, they never successfully hatched chicks.
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Pelicans have been living in London’s St James’s Park since 1664, when the Russian Ambassador gave a pair of Great White pelicans to King Charles II as a diplomatic gift.
The animals have always been manually replaced because, until June 2026, they never successfully hatched chicks.
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Though only Europe’s fourth-largest airport in passenger numbers, Amsterdam Schiphol has Europe’s largest number of runways, six.
Five runways exceed 3300 m, a shorter one for general aviation measures 2014 m, the various orientations providing wind resilience.
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While tumbleweed is iconic in Westerns set in the Americas, the plant is originally from eastern Europe.
The tumbleweed (or ‘Russian Thistle’) didn’t arrive in North America from Europe until the 1870’s, most likely with shipments of seeds.
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Arkell v. Pressdram (1971) is a famous UK legal anecdote where Private Eye magazine defeated a libel threat from James Arkell.
Private Eye responded to Arkell’s lawyer’s demand with a curt dismissal (“f*** off”), the case never went to court.
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According to legend, kissing the Blarney Stone, a limestone block built into Ireland’s Blarney Castle, endows the kisser with ‘the gift of the gab’.
The supposed gift of great eloquence has made many statesmen, actors and writers try to kiss the stone.
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Arkell v. Pressdram (1971) is a famous UK legal anecdote where Private Eye magazine defeated a libel threat from James Arkell.
Private Eye responded to Arkell’s lawyer’s demand with a curt dismissal (“f*** off”), the case never went to court.