› added 3 days ago

TIL during/after the Korean War, South Korea state-sponsored prostitution for US troops, framing it as women's 'patriotic duty.' Camp towns from the DMZ to Seoul were called 'GI Heaven. The sex workers endured severe abuses to facilitate "sexual hygiene" such as forced medication and imprisonment.

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VM70p TIL the earliest form of the odometer was invented in Ancient Greece, probably around the time of Alexander the Great, and Ancient China in the first century
QJLma TIL that the earth was known to be spherical by most European scholars since the 3rd century bc
xV0LD TIL that in 1833, the first passenger ship to make a transatlantic voyage almost entirely steam-powered was the SS Royal William
XErEr TIL that the effects of the Chernobyl disaster in 1986 were so widespread that sheep in Wales had to be put under control measures, which included measuring their radioactivity before sales. This control was finally lifted in 2012, 26 years after the disaster.
Z8yLB TIL that Sir Isaac Newton kept a detailed list of all the sins he committed up until the age of 19.