› added 12 years ago

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TIL that European Royal Families had a “Court Jew” to handle finances and negotiate loans since usury was forbidden by the Catholic Church

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epBVk TIL general anesthesia works in single celled microbes
oR1lY Today I learned how the individual days of the week got their name. The individual days of the week got their names from the ancient Romans, who named them after the seven visible celestial bodies known at the time: Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, and Saturn ¹.
lNA5 TIL the Rothschilds had such an efficient system of couriers that they knew Napoleon had lost at Waterloo a day before the government did. Nathan Rothschild kept it secret and immediately bought up the government bond market. He then sold the bonds for an enormous 40% profit two years later.
Z8NLD TIL Sudan has more than 200 pyramids dating back to 5,000 years, some of them are at the risk of being buried by shifting sand dunes
GYXy5 TIL one prisoner, who was spending his time at the Baltimore City Detention Center, ended up getting four female prison guards pregnant. Thanks to that, he made around $20,000 in smuggled items.