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TIL students once made Oxford the murder capital of late medieval England. A 2023 study found that it had a murder rate 4-5x higher than that of London or York & 50x higher than current rates in 21st century English cities. The mix of young male students & booze was often a powder keg for violence.

Read more zmescience.com

via reddit.com

nWwjo TIL Jean Lafitte was a pirate who smuggled slaves into Louisiana. In 1814, he rejected a British offer and instead aided General Andrew Jackson in defending New Orleans. His privateers played a key role in the American victory, earning Lafitte and his men a full pardon from President James Madison.
eB4b TIL that a vehicle’s “dashboard” originally was a barrier of wood or a leather apron affixed at the front of a horse-drawn carriage or sleigh to protect the driver from mud or other debris “dashed”(tossed) up by the wheels and horses’ hooves.
xdYB TIL that ‘Russian Ark’ is a 96-minute film shot entirely in a single, Steadicam sequence. It follows a narrator through 33 rooms in the Winter Palace, contains over 2,000 extras and 3 orchestras, and took four attempts to get right with the final take pressured by the camera’s dying battery.
wL84J TIL of the "American Hippo Bill," introduced in 1910 by Representative Robert F. Broussard, which proposed importing hippos from Africa to the bayous of Louisiana. Ideally, the hippos would eat invasive water hyacinth and Americans could integrate hippo meat into their diets.
eRgb TIL Hyenas and Elephants can’t be raped, and women are the leaders in these societies because they control the sex (NSFW language)