› added 10 months ago

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TIL Byzantine emperors hired Vikings as guards. One of whom, Halfdan, left runic graffiti on the Hagia Sophia.

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vPKwj TIL of the "jury of matrons". In English law, a female plaintiff or defendant at trial who claimed to be pregnant was allowed to call a jury of older women to inspect her and decide if she truly was pregnant.
6WKX TIL that Canada and the USA are the least racist countries in the world; India and Jordan are the most racist.
4km5N TIL Anna Jarvis started a petition to abolish Mother's Day in 1943. However, these efforts were halted when she was placed in the Marshall Square Sanitarium in West Chester, Pennsylvania. People connected with the floral and greeting card industries paid the bills to keep her in the sanitarium.
EP7W TIL that the phrase “Blood is thicker than water” was originally “The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb,” meaning the modern phrase is opposite in meaning to its origin.
DW4J TIL Mount Kosciuszko was thought to be the highest mountain in Australia until Mount Townsend was found to be slightly taller. Rather than re-educating the public that Townsend was the new highest mountain, the New South Wales Lands Department simply switched their names.