› added 5 years ago

172

TIL Babylonian women had to, by law, consort with 1 stranger who threw a silver coin into their lap while they sat in the "District of Venus". As Babylonian women were usually tall and beautiful, some uglier women had to wait up to 4 years for their coin, before returning home.

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BrKZk TIL there is only one white giraffe left in the world...
9w78r TIL Water doesn't always boil at 100 degrees
NXbXQ TIL: When falling in the standard belly-to-Earth position, an average estimate of terminal velocity for skydivers is 120 mph (200 km/h), and a falling person will reach terminal velocity after about 12 seconds, falling some 450 m (1,500 ft) in that time.
788kP TIL during WWI, President Wilson recruited "Four Minute Men" - 75,000 volunteers gave 4-minute public speeches nationwide to encourage patriotism and participation in the war effort. An estimated 7.5 million talks were given to 300+ million listeners (in a nation of 103 million) in just 18 months.
voZB TIL that Hitler came to power in a democracy with a highly liberal constitution, and in part by using democratic freedoms to undermine and then destroy democracy itself.