› added 13 years ago

616

TIL the Catholic Church used to castrate boys who accused priests of sexual abuse, as recently as the 1950’s

Read more telegraph.co.uk

via reddit.com

xJ8b TIL of the legend of Sir Francis Drake’s drum. It is said that on his deathbed he requested that the drum be returned to his manor and that, if ever England were to come under attack, one would beat the drum, he would return to protect the country.
ZWWG TIL that up until the 1960’s, black Americans with cars could purchase a “Green Book” that would tell them which towns across America had colored facilities, which towns didn’t accept black people out after dark, and which places to avoid visiting if they wanted to survive their trip.
VMWgm TIL of Betteridge's law of headlines - "Any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no".
OoBN4 TIL That the equals sign ( = ) was invented in 1557 after Welsh mathematician Robert Recorde got tired of having to write "is equal to" over and over again.
P1VKE TIL that Yosemite Sam never said "What in tarnation?" in the classic Looney Tunes era