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TIL: The Brazen Head was a legendary Bronze automatron in the late medieval period that is said to be magical and mechanical. It is able to answer any question correctly, but only with yes or no. The 2nd oldest pub in Ireland was also named the Brazen Head in 1198

GYGD7 TIL a circle is used to represent a city on a map since early maps would draw small bird's-eye views of cities, and walled cities during that time were usually circular. Eventually the drawing was dropped and only the circular outline remained.
OGMKL TIL that in Italy it’s considered rude to pour wine by gripping the body of the bottle, palm up. It’s called “the traitor’s way” because it’s how people in 15-16th centuries would covertly slip poison into the wine from a signet “poison ring”. The correct way is to hold the very end of the bottle.
yQGKe TIL that President John F. Kennedy's younger sister, Rosemary Kennedy, was diagnosed as mentally deficient and forced to undergo a lobotomy. She was strapped to a table against her will and lobotomized, permanently incapacitating and institutionalizing her until her death in 2005.
4Xvvw TIL the U.S. president used to have a presidential yacht. Jimmy Carter sold it in the 70s, and at one point it had an elevator on it for FDR - until Lyndon Johnson replaced it with a liquor bar.
neZBb TIL The grand children of Hermann Göring (commander-in-chief of the Luftwaffe and highly ranked Nazi Officer) sterilised themselves to cut the family line.