› added 10 months ago

28

TIL that the King of Tonga keeps an official court jester, the only such appointment in any modern royal court.

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E1wd TIL Kyoto was spared from the atom bomb because the U.S. secretary of war had fond memories of his honeymoon there
5pN8 TIL The Nobel Peace Prize can not be awarded to a dead person. The prize was not awarded in 1948 because there was “no suitable living candidate” as Gandhi was recently assassinated.
VBoyp TIL Johannes Hevelius had exceptionally keen eyesight and could see stars of the seventh magnitude. He compiled a "Celestial Atlas" using both instruments, naked eye observations, and observed sunspots to accurately determine the solar rotation
D1jmJ TIL about Kṣitigarbha a Buddhist monk who vowed to refuse paradise until he had helped every single living being achieve enlightenment, even if the task lasted unto eternity.
D17vV TIL During WWI female munitions workers were nicknamed "Canary Girls" because exposure to TNT is toxic, and repeated exposure turns the skin an orange-yellow colour reminiscent of the plumage of a canary