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TIL The word “nice” used to mean “simple and foolish” as well as “cowardly and effeminate.” It comes from the Latin “nescire,” meaning “to be ignorant.”

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xVYPo TIL of Boudica, a Celtic queen who led a revolt against Roman rule in ancient Britain in A.D. Boudica’s forces had massacred some 70,000 Romans and pro-Roman Britons and though her rebellion failed, she is celebrated today as a national heroine and an embodiment of the struggle for justice.
MekwA TIL in 1928 women competed in the 800 Meters Olympics for the first time and it was reported by the media to be a complete disaster with women fainting and sobbing hysterically. Women were no longer allowed to compete until 1960. In reality, no one fainted and several beat the existing world record.
0wVRp TIL Norway had the biggest merchant fleet during WW2 with over 1000 ships, and shipped 40% of the fuel to the allies during WW2. The British PM Winston Churchill and the US President Franklin Roosevelt stated that “Nortraship is worth more for the Allied cause than a million soldiers on the ground”
KYZr4 TIL of Claude Ruggieri who launched the first living animals into the air by rocket, returning them safely to earth by parachute. In 1830, French authorities stopped his attempt at the first human rocket flight when the test subject was found to be an 11 year old boy.
dDZdj TIL that Buridan's ass is a philosophical paradox about a donkey that is equally hungry and thirsty, standing midway between a bale of hay and a bucket of water. The donkey is unable to make any rational decision between the two, and thus, it dies of both hunger and thirst.