› added 6 years ago

186

TIL Zoroastrian funerals involve a ritual called sagdid (dog-sight). A dog was brought in before the body. If the dog stares steadily at the body, the person is still alive. If it doesn't look at the body, death is confirmed. This was useful in ensuring that a coma was not being mistaken for death.

Read more heritageinstitute.com

via reddit.com

KOD0w TIL The first settler to successfully grow commercial Tobacco was John Rolfe in Jamestown, in Virginia in 1609. In 1614, the first shipment was sent to England. In 1638, 3,000,000 pounds was being sent annually. By the 1680s, Jamestown was producing over 25,000,000 pounds for export to Europe.
J1PJk TIL a large percentage of the drugs smuggled across the US border are smuggled by addicted people or others in financial hardship, who are paid little but need the money to sustain their lives. Some carry fentanyl pills inside their body that can easily kill them if accidentally absorbed.
KOdaG TIL that in 2003 the Bolton Museum in England purchased a statue of the granddaughter of King Tutankhamun for £440,000. In 2006 they discovered it was a forgery
awMDb TIL that in the whole history of submarine warfare, there was only ever one underwater submarine battle. That battle was also the only time a submerged submarine sunk another submerged submarine.
L4yp TIL that whales, sturgeon, dolphins and porpoises that wash up on the shore in the UK are “royal fish” and are property of the Queen.