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159

TIL that 0 of the 50 safest cities are in the US.

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daGj TIL that the Pacific island of Yap used to use a currency of giant stones. Since they were often too big to move, they were often left in the center of town, ownership was simply transferred by oral agreement.
VMx0G TIL Elagabalus was an emperor of Rome who wore makeup and wigs, preferred to be called a lady, and offered vast sums to any physician who could provide him with a vagina. The historian Dio referred to him with feminine pronouns, and he is the first recorded person to seek sex reassignment surgery.
5YnG8 TIL that in 1666 the Dutch painter Willem van de Velde, when tasked with portraying a sea battle, manned a ship himself to make live drawings of the ongoing Four Days Battle from as close as possible.
Y7Ker TIL that even though he won the Academy Awards for best picture and director for "Gandhi" in 1982, Richard Attenborough was disappointed and openly claimed that Steven Spielberg's "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" should have won. Spielberg cast him as John Hammond in "Jurassic Park" to thank him.
7Rnx TIL that before trees were common, the earth was covered in giant mushrooms