› added 4 years ago

110

TIL that US purchased Alaska for 2 cents per acre

Read more history.state.gov

via reddit.com

9wAW6 TIL that while the use of Lemons as a cure for Scurvy was published in 1753 the British Admiralty refused to use it until 1793, while the Merchant Navy ignored the discovery all the way up to 1867.
nWoNb TIL: There is a Japanese martial art of combative swimming called Suijutsu. Various styles existed such as the Iwakura Ryū which has techniques for unusual situations such as eating while in water and many schools taught methods of swimming in armor.
5YyWD TIL between the 16th and 18th centuries, the Catholic church exhumed skeletons from catacombs and decorated them with gold and precious stones to serve as relics for saints. While some of the corpses may have been early martyrs, most actually did not belong to anybody with religious significance.
kObQW TIL film critic Roger Ebert started his journalism career as a kid with a stamp collecting newsletter called "Ebert's Stamp News". He was able to get 6 subscribes, and actually mailed the newsletter to them.
BrlWx TIL Lynette Fromme once attempted to kill President Gerald Ford in 1975.