› added 11 years ago

184

TIL that ships are often built with coins inside them, a tradition started by the Romans

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KYZGB TIL that during The Cold War West Germany purchased the freedom of political prisoners in East Germany using cash and goods. Nearly 40,000 prisoners were purchased at an average cost of 40,000 Deutsche Marks per person.
wLe1Y TIL that Bermuda had no indigenous population at the time of its discovery, and there is no evidence of any people having lived there before the British settled in 1609, effectively making the British the first people to ever establish a human population on the island
E106V TIL Neil Armstrong resigned from NASA to take a teaching job, where he stayed for more than eight years—longer than his career as an astronaut. As part of a research group that included physician Henry Heimlich, he helped to design an artificial heart-lung system based on Apollo technology
P6Rw TIL that Napoleon Dynamite cost only $400,000 to produce, and grossed about 10 times more than the production price.
WkkM9 TIL that "sex changes are not effective", according to researchers, who say there is no evidence that these operations improve the lives of transexuals, many of whom remain suicidal and severely distressed after surgery.