› added 11 years ago

137

TIL that a man’s investments were prevented from growing to their full extent out of fear that they would exceed the value of the world.

Read more articles.philly.com

via reddit.com

K5yE TIL that after the death of Swaziland’s King Sobhuza II in 1982, the reigning queen enforced a 75-day mourning period that only allowed commerce essential to the life of the nation. During this time, the queen outlawed sexual intercourse and those caught were punished by flogging.
kDdm TIL In 1989, the Soviet Union traded PepsiCo seventeen submarines, a cruiser, a frigate, and a destroyer for almost $3 billion worth of Pepsi, making PepsiCo the sixth most powerful military at the time.
v1g5B TIL that Alexander Litvinenko, the Soviet Secret Service defector that was assassinated by polonium poisoning for defecting, converted to Islam in Britain. His father's reaction to this was "It doesn't matter. At least you're not a communist"
697lY TIL that 17 pitchers were allowed to throw spitballs until they retired even after spitballs were banned in 1920
R5RL7 TIL that JF Kennedy was a very sick man, suffering from an autoimmune disease and a myriad other illnesses for which he took copious amounts of drugs and that would have likely caused his early demise had he not been assassinated