› added 6 years ago

494

TIL in Sichuan opera, there is a performance art specifically dedicated to changing theatrical masks so fast that it’s imperceptible. It’s called Bian Lian (“face changing”), and the sleight of hand technique behind it is classified as a level two national secret by China’s State Secrets Bureau.

9YQAD TIL that until the 1890s, there were people in Britain whose job was being a village’s “sin eater.” When someone died, you paid a sin eater to come over and eat a 'funeral biscuit' that had been placed on the dead body, taking on their sin in the process.
l79P1 TIL that Cleopatra’s beauty regimen included bathing in donkey milk. She reportedly used the milk of 700 donkeys for her baths to preserve her skin's softness and youth.
D1ang TIL about Havelock Ellis, a 19th century English sexologist, who thought he was impotent until age 60, where he discovered he was "aroused by a woman urinating". He also co-authored early medical textbooks on homosexuality, pioneered investigating psychedelic drugs and married an open lesbian.
vWQr TIL of a Korean film called Silenced, depicting events which took place at a deaf school, where students were systematically abused for years. The film sparked a public outcry and reinvestigation. Several teachers and the principal faced prosecution, eventually causing the school to be closed.
AMja TIL There’s a series of books called, “Chronicles of the Shadow War” which is co-written by George Lucas which is a continuation of the film “Willow.”