› added 12 years ago

117

TIL that the Mongol empire had a female Great Khan (Khatun) for several years, probably the most powerful woman in history.

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worb8 TIL the political terms "left" and "right" first appeared during the French Revolution of 1789 when members of the National Assembly divided into conservative supporters of the old regime to the assembly president's right and the more liberal supporters of the revolution to his left
XElDk TIL Groundhog Day took its repeating time idea from an Oscar Nominated short film starring Kurtwood Smith called 12:01. The writer of the original story almost sued the producers of Groundhog Day but decided against it.
PYw6w TIL After Peter the Great mandated that all officers in his army must have started their career as privates, noble families began to register newborn boys as privates. First reporting for service at the age of 15, the boys were then promoted through seniority to junior lieutenant or equivalent rank
e6yE TIL that the czech secret police used fake border posts to convince refugees they successfully fled the country. Afterwards they were interviewed by fake US personal to find out who else wanted to flee. A lot of refugees were talked into leaving the country by agent provocateurs to begin with
NX57E TIL Co-Op city, a housing area collectively owned by its tenants, objected to the construction of a tall, bright LED sign facing the city. This was strongly opposed by the residents. Two years later, a windmill was erected near the sign, a month later it collapsed, and took the sign down with it.