› added 11 years ago

91

TIL Government vehicles in Cuba are legally required to pick up any hitchhikers.

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awbN9 TIL that pirates and sailors wore eye patches not necessarily to cover a missing eye, but also to keep one eye dark-adapted for work below decks.
Y7VKB TIL about Robert Liston, a British surgeon noted for his speed and skill in an era prior to anesthetics. His most famous case involved a leg amputation that took 2 1/2 minutes, and resulted in the amputation of his assistant's fingers and the coat tails of a surgical spectator.
o5xo TIL that during WWII, Joan Pujol Garcia, a double agent that spied on Germany for the British, was supposed to recruit spies in Britain for the Germans. He made up so many fake spy names that Germany decided they had enough “agents” spying for them in Britain, and didn’t want anymore.
gM514 TIL in Renaissance Italy courtesans were known as cortigiana or "courtier". These women were well-educated more so than women of nobility & simultaneously artists, dancers & singers. These women were often treated as equals to women of nobility.
yQY4V TIL viruses use compression in their genome