› added 5 years ago

313

TIL about Aphrodite Areia, the Warlike and Armoured version of Aphrodite worshipped by the Spartans.

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via reddit.com

KYQM9 TIL that Grizzly bears in Yellowstone help manufacturers to test if their products are really bear-resistant. If a bear were able to get in a container within that 60 minutes, then the manufacturer would have to go back to the drawing board.
GAlaJ TIL a lot of superyachts have an additional large yacht to accompany them. Support yachts are generally primarily intended to carry the "toys" of the super rich, whether they be a floating helipad, a rigid inflatable boat, a fishing boat, luxury yacht tender, jet-ski or submersible.
9YrNX TIL only three people in the nation were qualified to hand-pack the parachutes for Apollo 15. Their expertise was so vital, they were not allowed to ride in the same car together for fear that a single auto accident could cripple the space program.
8aXDa TIL of Louis de Bourbon, Count of Soissons who after betraying Louis XIII and succesfully beat his army at the Battle of La Marfée, accidentally killed himself when lifting the visor of his helmet with his pistol after the battle was over
l9Y1 TIL when Darwin was studying a Madagascar orchid whose flower had a foot long nectar filled tube, he hypothesized it had an as yet unknown pollinating moth with a proboscis of the same length, a length unprecedented at the time. Not until 21 years after his death was the moth finally discovered.