› added 7 years ago

519

TIL the Roman emperor Nero took a liking to a young boy named Sporus, who he had castrated and married because he bore a resemblance to the emperor’s former wife, who Nero had allegedly murdered. After Nero’s death, Sporus took his own life out of humiliation.

Read more wikipedia.org

via ift.tt

5XNP TIL that comedian Patton Oswalt sent out a series of tweets on August 17 that came off as very offensive when read individually, but were totally fine when read together (picture in comments).
N7ne1 TIL That Mad Max: Fury Road had filming moved from the Broken Hill region of NSW to Namibia after unusual rainfall caused the desert landscape to bloom with wild flowers.
e0OZE Today I learned that auto makers have been adding fake engine noises to their car speaker systems, or even adding entirely separate speaker systems to increase the rumble and depth of the sound of engines to compensate for modern efficiency resulting in less oomph. It’s called a Soundaktor.
GAZ1Q TIL Astronaut Scott Kelly was paid $70/ hr by NASA until his retirement where he would be paid $10/hr to compensate for his debriefings and participation as a medical test subject. Kelly spent 520 days in space over four missions
5YdJP TIL polar bears' liver have a vitamin A content so high, its considered poisonous. When hunting them, the livers are buried or burned to prevent the hunter's dogs from eating them.