› added 3 years ago

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TIL that after The Washington Post was acquired in 2013, one of the proposed ideas was to install a feature that allowed a reader to remove the vowels from an article they didn't enjoy, the idea being that another reader would have to pay to reinstate the vowels.

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via reddit.com

l5QK TIL North Korea enlists around 2000 women as part of a ‘Pleasure Squad’. These are attractive women who provide entertainment and sexual services for top officials. One defector says Kim Jong-il was “sentimental when drunk, and even shed tears”
GYVWG TIL Bill Haast began extracting snake venom at 15 years old. He founded the Miami Serpentarium and injected himself with venom for 60+ years. His blood was used to save 21 snakebite victims. He created a venom serum to cure polio. He was bitten over 170 times and lived to be 100.
5V4ln TIL that only 46 years after Magellan's voyage the Spanish Empire set up a large scale trade route from Mexico to the Philippines, trading Mexican silver for Asian goods such as silk, porcelain and spices
WkED8 TIL about WWII American Lieutenant John R. Fox. He volunteered to stay behind in a town overrun by enemy troops as US troops retreated. As the enemy advanced he called in an artillery barrage on himself. When US troops later counterattacked they found his body alongside about 100 German soldiers.
rNOpw TIL the highest mountain in the Maldives rises to only 17 ft (5 m) above sea level. A local hotel once provided certificates for its guests who made the ascent.