› added 3 years ago

118

TIL that the city of Baltimore used flogging as a punishment till 1938. People were sent to the whipping post for one crime only; wife beating. This punishment was used because wife beaters often escaped conviction, as their wives simply couldn't afford to send the husband/breadwinner to jail.

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via reddit.com

Wkw4X TIL that male Billy Goats smell so bad because they urinate on their own head, beard, and front legs to smell more attractive to females during their mating season
KOw64 TIL that Charles Joughin, Chief Baker on Titanic, helped passengers board life boats (forcibly boarding those who thought it safer to stay on the ship), drank a 1/2 bottle of liqueur, then threw chairs overboard for use as flotation devices, rode the side of the ship down while it sunk, and survived
WPMY TIL that bats are responsible for pollinating agave plants for making tequila
VdrD TIL that in 1860s, four white students at Phillips Exeter Academy confronted their headmaster and demanded that he kick out the black students - his response was “The colored student will stay, you can do as you please.”
0wQv TIL that Richard Branson once engineered a hoax involving a hot air balloon designed to look like a glowing UFO, piloted by a silver suited midget.