› added 11 months ago

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TIL that news anchors in Turkmenistan, both men and women, were prevented from wearing any make-up after the former president discovered he was unable to tell the difference between them when presenters wore it.

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D1n9r TIL William the Conqueror (aka William The Bastard) was denied a marriage proposal by Matilda of Flanders who felt marrying a bastard was below her. He won her heart by reading the response and immediately riding 250+ miles from Normandy to Bruges to grab her by the hair and throw her in the mud.
R5Vr1 TIL that to join the EU, Austria had to lift its blanket ban on members of the Habsburg family entering Austria because it was a violation of human rights
8a5vZ TIL that Navajo language was used in the WWII by the U.S. Armed Forces in the Pacific to encrypt communications. They simply had Navajo Indians talking to each other, and since the language is exceedingly complex and has no written form, not a single person in Japan knew anything about it.
neA0P TIL the U.S. National Quiet Zone is 13,000 sq. miles where radio-emitting devices, including microwave ovens and most radio broadcasts, are illegal except for certain military and scientific purposes. It has also become a haven for people claiming to suffer from electromagnetic hypersensitivity.
a8wZL TIL that the Turia river in Valencia was permanently diverted after constant flooding causing damage to surrounding areas, the old riverbed is now a verdant sunken park.