› added 11 years ago

63

TIL to deter slaves from committing suicide by jumping overboard, the captain of a slave ship lowered a slave into the water with a rope then instantly pulled her out. Sharks had torn off the lower part of her body.

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nW9Wb TIL that in 2011, the country of Norway ran out of butter. As a result, prices soared and butter was smuggled illegally into the country.
yP1l TIL that of the 20 richest women in the world, 19 of them inherited their money from either their husband or father. The first self made rich woman rings in at #17.
a8Y7b TIL the oldest known zoo dates to c. 3500 BC in ancient Egypt.
0kAj TIL Samuel L Jackson has a clause in all his movie contracts stating that he gets 2 days off a week to play golf and the producers have to pay for it
8aVRP TIL about Leo Marks, WW2 cryptographer, who was given a 20 minute training exercise on his first day at work which took him the whole day to complete. He had accidentally not been given the cipher key and ended up breaking a code that was meant to be secure.