› added 10 years ago

187

TIL: The first legal slave owner in what would become the United States was a black man

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

0wpLy TIL that every tourist to the Kingdom of Bhutan must pay a daily fee of USD$250. This tax is to discourage large tour groups of "low-quality high impact tourists" that may damage Bhutan's fragile and unspoiled environment.
wx76 TIL the “pencil test” was used during Apartheid in South Africa to decide if a child got to grow up white or “coloured” (biracial). If your hair wasn’t curly enough to hold a pencil, you “passed” as white.
R5ZOj TIL a 1979 study from Kays Kaidbey and his colleagues found that on average 55% of ultraviolet A rays penetrate Caucasian skin while fewer than 18% get through African-American skin. This is why photoageing is delayed in people with dark skin...
wXjJ TIL of Turtle Ships, 15th century armored warships that were essentially fire-breathing sea tanks of their day.
pYnM4 TIL that Glen Campbell and Alice Cooper were “best of friends.”