› added 8 years ago

110

TIL Marilyn Monroe’s mother was schizophrenic, which caused Marilyn to live in several foster homes and orphanages. In two of these, she was sexually assaulted by the foster father. When she was 16, her foster family married her off to keep her from going back to foster care when they moved

Read more wikipedia.org

via ift.tt

R5g9Q TIL of the Siege of the city of Leningrad which occurred during WW2 and lasted for 872 days. It resulted in over 2 million deaths between the warring factions and the local civilian population. Some experts have classified it as genocide.
BPAr TIL in the year 1000, to save Iceland from civil war, both parties elected the wisest man to suggest a peaceful solution. He decided on a mass conversion to Christianity that tolerated pagan worship in private. And everyone agreed. He even converted himself.
oBmw8 TIL that Frederick The Great planned to be buried on the grounds of his summer palace Sanssouci in Potsdam, but due to disobedient heirs and intervening wars and political upheavals, his wish was not carried out until 205 years to the day after his death.
xVyl0 TIL In the wild, giraffes almost never lie down because of vulnerability to predators. They usually sleep standing, sometimes sitting, and they give birth standing up. When giraffes sleep, they curl their necks and sleep for about five minutes at a time, sleeping no more than 30 minutes a day.
e0omb TIL about the 13,500 year old Grotte du Bichon man of Switzerland, whose remains were found intermingled with a wounded brown bear and charcoal. This indicates that he tried to force the bear out of the cave by fire to slaughter it, but in turn was killed by the dying animal.