› added 1 year ago

79

TIL that in the year 1698 the ruler of Russia, Czar Peter the Great, declared a war on beards.

Read more mentalfloss.com

via reddit.com

4QaJ TIL Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II (1194-1250) tried to discover a “natural language” of humans by having children raised without exposure to language. Allegedly, he never learned the answer because they all died.
gMJ69 TIL that 'Don't Mess With Texas' was originally an anti-littering campaign by the Texas Department of Transportation. Since the phrase is a federally registered trademark, the department has tried at times to enforce its trademark rights with little success.
grwa4 TIL 20 years ago, William Shatner released his 2nd musical album "HAS BEEN." Produced & arranged by Ben Folds, featuring collaborations with recording artists Aimee Mann, Joe Jackson, Henry Rollins, Adrian Belew, Lemon Jelly, and Brad Paisley. It has been called "one of the 10 best albums of 2004."
BjxL TIL Roh Moo-hyun, President of South Korea from 2003 to 2008, killed himself in 2009 by jumping off a cliff. His left-wing party chose to delay the opening of parliament until the right-wing government of the time accepted responsibility for his suicide.
N7GxM TIL in the Middle Ages, Catholic women were prohibited from having sex on Sundays, Wednesdays, or Fridays, on feast days, while fasting for Lent or Advent or while "impure" (menstruation, pregnancy, 40 days after giving birth & while nursing). Everything but missionary position was considered sodomy