› added 4 years ago

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TIL about Marco Bragadin gruesomely killed, first dragged around with sacks of stone on his back; then tied to a chair and hoisted up a Turkish flagship, then tied to a column and flayed alive, then his skin was stuffed and redressed in his military clothes, then rode on an ox around town

BgrJr TIL the DTC was created for the US stock market in 1973 to lessen paperwork, reduce counterfeiting, fraud, and other types of trade-failures. In 2022, the same % of trades fail as before the DTC's founding
ZQVp TIL of the saluting trap. British army conscripts would form a large group, then one by one walk to an officer. Each would salute, forcing him to salute back. The goal was to force the officer to salute as many soldiers as possible as fast as possible to make his arm sore.
aWyJ TIL Italy’s Credem Bank takes parmesan cheese from local producers in exchange for cheap loans (charging 3-5% interest, depending on quality) & a fee ensuring the cheese matures properly (2yrs) in the bank vault (cheese is sold if the loan defaults). 430,000 parmesan wheels ($200M+) are stored there
78pwp TIL Pentagrams were used in Christianity to represent the 5 wounds of Christ, for a few hundred years after his death.
awpeL TIL that Harper Lee’s friends gave her a full year’s salary for Christmas in 1956 so that she’d be able to take a year off from work to write. Lee used that time to write “To Kill a Mockingbird,” which has since sold over 30 million copies.