› added 11 years ago

306

TIL The oldest third party in the United States is the Prohibition Party, founded in 1869 to ban alcohol and still going strong today, even getting 512 votes in the 2012 presidential elections!

Read more prohibitionists.org

via reddit.com

0wEyM TIL: In English, the ligature Æ is called 'Ash'
Y7mwG TIL about "The Two-Hour Rule" something the old Hollywood studios put in thier actor's contract stating they had to be within a two-hour drive of Los Angeles during production. This rule put Palm Springs on the map as a popular getaway to the stars.
8aKBa TIL that people would have sex in graveyards to “laugh in the face of death”, during the Black Death. It became illegal and people were threatened with excommunication. It was thought that sexual immorality caused the plague, so prostitution and adultery were outlawed.
l7lJB TIL there was a 500 BC predecessor to Suez canal, connecting the Nile and Red sea, thus enabling a single water route to Malabar (India) from Rome. It had water locks to solve the higher elevation of sea than the inlands
BgpoW TIL that the US's founding fathers likely had British accents.