› added 1 week ago

3

TIL Vivaldi wrote an opera, Arsilda, regina di Ponto (RV 700), but the state censor blocked the performance. The main character, Arsilda, falls in love with another woman, Lisea, who is pretending to be a man. Vivaldi got the censor to accept the opera the following year

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

ngRW TIL: When identical twins reproduce with identical twins the resulting children are genetically indistinguishable from full siblings
R5aj9 TIL American rapper Jay-Z stabbed a man in at an album release party, with a 5-inch blade in the stomach, after rumours the man was behind the bootlegging of one of his albums. He later pleaded guilty to third-degree assault, accepting a 3-year probation sentence.
0weVR TIL spiral staircases in medieval castles were deliberately made clockwise because it diminished the ability of attackers to properly swing their swords, since right-handed fighters would have had to to contend with the walls while making their striking motions.
6947l TIL after property and zoning disputes with his town and neighbors Martin Heemeyer constructed a modified armored bulldozer in secret over the course of 18 months in order to destroy the businesses and homes of those he believed conspired against him
6Ep9Z TIL Sunspots are used to observe the sun's rotation and have an average lifespan of 2 weeks. A magnification of 40x-50x in a filtered telescope shows a full-disc view of the Sun, and if sunspots are present, they will appear quite small