› added 8 years ago

183

TIL In 1944, Mary Babnik Brown became the first woman to have her hair used in crosshairs for military aircraft bombsights. The hair had to fit strict criteria such as being blonde, over 22 inches long and never been treated with chemicals or hot irons.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

rRd7M TIL that the world's first mental health hospital was built in Baghdad, Iraq in 705 AD. While mental health patients were being condemned, punished, and even burned in Europe, 8th and 9th century mental health patients in Iraq, Egypt, and Syria were given more proper hospitalization and treatment.
9YxjX TIL Ludger Sylbaris, a man thrown into solitary confinement after a bar brawl, survived one of the biggest volcanic eruption of the 20th century because his cell was bombproof and poorly ventilated. He became one of only three known survivors of the event, and his prison cell still stands today.
d8w69 TIL about Takanakuy, a festival held on the 25th of December by people from the Chumbivilcas Province in Peru. The festival consists of drinking, dancing and fist fighting each other to settle old conflicts, much like Christmas is celebrated in my family.
x5Kk TIL that the act of hitting something until it works is called “Percussive maintenance”.
BL6d TIL a mysterious young woman known only as “Bionerd23” has spent the last couple of years wandering around the destroyed nuclear plant at Chernobyl, ignoring the radiation danger and occasionally eating radioactive apples. Despite her dozens of YouTube videos, no one seems to know who she is.