› added 3 years ago

158

TIL that Adelicia Acklen saved her fortune because she was friends with a Confederate general and friendly with a Union admiral. The general agreed not to burn her Louisiana cotton and the admiral allowed her to ship it to New Orleans. She sold it to the Rothchilds of London for $960,000.

Read more womenhistoryblog.com

via reddit.com

E1Gnw TIL that Alan Turing once bought 150lbs of silver, but didn't trust banks so he buried it in the woods instead. After the price of silver had almost doubled, he went to dig it up, but could no longer find it.
v1dpB TIL Men initiate sex more than 3x as often as women do in a long-term, heterosexual relationship. However, sex happens far more often when the woman takes the initiative, implying that it’s the woman who sets limits, and that frequency of sex depends on how enthusiastic a couple are about it.
XEO1P TIL that the eagle featured on U.S. currency was modeled on a real bald eagle named Peter who used to live on top of the U.S. Mint. He died in 1836 but, like many animals whose admirers just can't let go, Peter was stuffed and is still on display inside the very building upon which he once nested.
BgLkK TIL Catholic and Protestant Bibles both include 27 books in the New Testament but Protestant Bibles have only 39 books in the Old Testament while Catholic Bibles have 46. The seven books included in Catholic Bibles are Tobit, Judith, 1 and 2 Maccabees, Wisdom, Sirach, and Baruch.
bm59 TIL: Actor Aaron Johnson, star of Godzilla and Kick Ass is English, married to a woman 23 years his senior and has two children with her.