› added 12 years ago

112

TIL Rhode Island gets 3% bigger at low tide.

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JYK11 TIL that medieval Iceland had a law against writing love poems to women, they were called "Mansöngr" or "maiden songs." If found guilty you were branded a full outlaw and banned from the island.
L0v0 TIL Christmas was influenced by Saturnalia, a week long period of lawlessness that included human sacrifice, intoxication, going from house to house while singing naked, rape and other sexual license.
epvRD TIL that under French colonial rule in Morocco, settlers had 36.5 km of sewers built for them, while Moroccans got only 4.3 km. Moroccans paid 24% more per hectare for land that was 50 times smaller, and they were legally banned from purchasing land from French settlers.
5YyJR TIL in some countries, including the US flying a flag upside indicates a state of emergency or war. This among a few other things is called flag desecration
GV65 TIL that the Dalai Lama searches & selects a Panchen Lama - the person responsible for finding the reincarnated Dalai Lama. The Panchen Lama was found in 1995, aged 6, and was subsequently kidnapped by the Chinese Government, replaced with a boy of their choosing, and never seen again.