› added 1 month ago

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Today I learned that in 67 C.E., Emperor Nero found a boy named Sporus who resembled his deceased wife. Nero had him castrated, dressed in female clothing, and made the entire imperial court treat him as if he were the Empress.

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Y7Y97 TIL that MLK Jr has a statue in Westminster Abby for being a “Modern Martyr”
n0Ar TIL that in 1997 Morgan Freeman offered to cover the cost of prom for a Mississippi school that held two racially segregated proms every year, provided that the one Freeman would be covering would just be one racially integrated prom. This offer was refused until 2008.
xV4w0 TIL A Chinese theme park has a ride that simulates death. It begins in a "morgue" where riders are placed in a casket and carried on a conveyor belt to be "cremated” by a blast of 105 degree hot air. It ends with the rider being passed through a ‘womb’ and being reborn.
D1n0v TIL that the Boeing 747 prototype had a consistent problem with engines randomly exploding. The test pilot took the president of the engine manufacturer for a ride and blew up engines one by one until he was nervously asked told to stop. The problem was promptly fixed.
rany TIL that the tomb of China’s first emperor has never been opened because of fears of booby traps and extreme levels of mercury, showing that legends of rivers of mercury flowing in the tomb may be true.