› added 5 years ago

49

TIL Pope Urban VII was the shortest serving Pope in history; living only 12 days after his election. In his short reign, he instituted the world’s first known smoking ban, threatening to excommunicate anyone who "took tobacco in the porchway of or inside a church”. He died of Malaria.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

VBBWB TIL About the Wowowee stampede that killed 73 people and injured 400 when a game show employee announced that only the first 300 people out of the 30,000 that showed up would get tickets the the popular Filipino game show Wowowee.
R5vb7 TIL that in 1961, Michael Rockefeller, son of New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller, disappeared in New Guinea while collecting artifacts. It's believed he was killed and eaten by local tribesmen.
R58Zl TIL: In 2019, Vice discovered that a growing number of Chinese women were turning to paid virtual boyfriends. The interactions mainly consist of them being hired to sing them to sleep, send them compliments, and chat with them via text or call.
Om11 TIL that in 2002, the popular MMORPG Everquest was the 77th richest country in the world inbetween Russia and Bulgeria. Virutal internal markets and illegal online trading meant that the in-game country ‘Norrath’ had a Product Per Capita of $2266, more than India and China.
pYddA TIL Time did not originally name a "Man of the Year" in 1941; Dumbo the elephant, whose film was released that year, was supposed to be "Mammal of the Year". Then Pearl Harbor happened and U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt was quickly anointed "Man of the Year" (for a record third time).