› added 1 week ago

4

TIL that San Marino claims to be the oldest extant sovereign state and the oldest constitutional republic. Founded in 301 AD, It is named after Saint Marinus, a stonemason from the Roman island of Rab (in present-day Croatia), who established a monastic community on Monte Titano.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

wgaY TIL that in 1382, a French bookseller named Nicholas Flamel claimed to have transformed lead into gold after decoding an ancient book of alchemy. True or not, historical records show that Flamel did come into considerable wealth around this time, and donated his riches to charity.
4XWeN TIL about Amy Rorbach, a reporter for ABC News, who underwent a mammogram live on air in 2013 to promote the procedure for Breast Cancer Awareness month. It was discovered that she did have cancer, and the procedure likely saved her life.
78MAZ TIL that Microsoft skipped version 13 of Microsoft Office due to concerns about triskaidekaphobia (fear of the number 13).
Xd6E TIL that men and women have about the same level of intelligence, but a different distribution. Men have a higher standard deviation, so are spread out on the bell curve. This could possibly explain men’s higher representation in science, leadership, and prestigious roles.
9wrGp TIL in 2015 30-70% of all internet traffic in India was estimated to be pornography, despite it being ostensibly illegal