› added 8 months ago

37

TIL that in the Middle Ages, scholars and alchemists were alleged to be assisted by a Brazen Head, an automaton that could answer any question asked of it.

ADaPa TIL of Dolly Oesterreich, a Milwaukee woman who kept a voluntary sex slave in the attics of her two homes, her husband and 2 lovers none the wiser, for about 10 years. Despite the murder of her husband and her attempts to cover it up she was never convicted and eventually died at the age of 80.
XEKJ8 TIL that many languages from northwestern Europe all the way to southern Asia and India, including English, Greek, and Sanskrit, are all descended from a common language called Proto-Indo-European, which is believed to have been spoken in what is today southwestern Russia between 7500 and 4500 BC.
awegL TIL In 1940 40 Wall street was worth less than its elevators had cost. The structure as a whole was worth $1.25 million, less than the 43 elevators in the building.40 Wall Street had opened following the Wall Street Crash of 1929, and so suffered from lack of tenants.
D1kGD TIL that the public transportation in Zanzibar (an autonomous region of Tanzania) is called "Daladala". During the 1970s and 1980s, public transport cost a Dollar to travel to the nearest town. Travelling to town cost a Dollar ("Dala") and returning cost a Dollar, hence the term "Daladala"
78Gjx TIL that the first English king to convert to Christianity was Æthelberht of Kent, following his marriage to Bertha, daughter of the Frankish king Charibert I, in the 6th Century