› added 10 years ago

141

TIL that giving an engagement ring when proposing is just a very successful ad campaign by the De Beers cartel.

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P14lO TIL in 1952, more than 100,000 U.S. Army troops descended on Lampasas, Texas as part of Operation Longhorn, a military exercise that trained soldiers how to retake a town from communist invaders
awA90 TIL that Black Death pandemic spread in Eurasia when after a protracted siege, during which the Mongol army under Jani Beg was suffering the disease, catapulted the infected corpses over the city walls to infect the inhabitants, resulting in the deaths of an estimated 75 to 200 million people.
4XZPb TIL Abas Amini, an Iranian seeking asylum in UK sewed up his mouth and eyes to protest the long, bureaucratic application process.
v1GEK TIL: Tea was fashionable in Britain only after Charles II's Portuguese wife, Catherine of Braganza, popularized it. When she arrived in England she asked for a cup of tea, but was given ale instead.
yQV8p TIL If the earth suddenly stopped spinning everything would instantly accelerate to 1,000 mph. Other very bad things would happen too.