› added 10 years ago

85

TIL that the quartermaster held almost as much power on a pirate vessel as the captain. The quartermaster could veto the captain’s decisions outside of combat and was the officer chiefly in charge of discipline.

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mxEPO TIL the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard which is roughly the size of Ireland is an entirely visa-free zone, meaning anyone may live and work on Svalbard indefinitely regardless of country of citizenship
D1MVP TIL that one of the first crimes recorded in Antarctica was at the USSR's Vostok Station, where one scientist attacked another with an ice axe after losing a game of chess.
D1gpv TIL 40% of workers in New York masturbate while on the job
k4y7 TIL that researchers are practicing for a human mission to Mars by living in the heart of Antarctica to see the effects of extreme isolation.
l7B1V TIL that Victorian Era doctors would use genital stimulation or manual pelvic massage to induce hysterical paroxysm a.k.a an orgasm to treat hysteria. Eventually devices were invented that took treatment times from hours to minutes. These devices would evolve to become modern day vibrators.