› added 11 months ago

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TIL that heirs to the throne of the Ottoman Empire were kept under house-arrest in the "Cage" from puberty until death (or becoming sultan), and it was common for a new sultan to have his brothers killed, including infants, sometimes dozens at once, to reduce the number of claimants to the throne.

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N7B5P TIL that in 2009, the government of the Maldives held an underwater cabinet meeting in a symbolic cry for help over rising sea levels that threaten the country's existence
d8d59 TIL the saying "Perfect is the enemy of good" means to go with what works well rather than trying for perfection. Sir Watson-Watt who developed radar in WW2 Britain had a “cult of the imperfect” saying "Give them the third best to go with; the second best comes too late, the best never comes.”
y0d8 TIL the word nimrod comes from a biblical figure, king Nimrod, who was a mighty hunter, but now means a stupid person after Bugs Bunny sarcastically referred to the hunter Elmer Fudd as nimrod in 1932. Most people did not get the joke and assumed it meant «stupid».
8ebP TIL that a German soldier named Fritz Christen stood his ground for 3 straight days and knocked out 13 Soviet tanks and killed nearly 100 enemy soldiers single handedly.
epAab TIL about the secret Society of Harmonious Fists, which practiced a form of shadowboxing thought to render one bulletproof. They then proceeded to roamed the countryside and killed whoever they felt was weakening the Chinese economy, forcing retaliation of over 20,000 troops.