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Probably one of the best things about education in the digital age is just how accessible it is. One click away and you get some of the best bits of knowledge you otherwise would have gone all the way to the library for, hoping to find what you were looking for. The problem with that is that you always have to know what you’re interested in in the first place.

Unlike the Weird History Twitter page that offers some of the most entertaining facts from all kinds of areas: it's pure entertainment in its educational form. Created by Andrew Rader more than a decade ago, in September 2011, Weird History has gained a following of 182.3K and counting adoring fans who never miss a new fact, bit of trivia, and piece of history to add to their memory.

Below the newest Weird History batch awaits you, so upvote your favorite posts! And after you’re done, be sure to check out Bored Panda’s previous features from the page here and here.

More info: Twitter (Weird History) | Twitter (Andrew) | Instagram | Facebook | YouTube | Andrew-Rader.com

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The MIT scientist Andrew, the founder and curator of Weird History, is a real Renaissance man. Originally from Ottawa in Canada, he is a SpaceX Mission Manager, book author, game designer, and podcast host currently living in Los Angeles in California. Since Andrew launched the Weird History page on Twitter more than a decade ago in 2011, he has amassed 182.3K followers and counting! Simultaneously, Andrew’s personal Twitter account which he created in 2013, 2 years after the Weird History page, has an audience of 897.7k followers.

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In 2013, he won the Discovery Channel’s competitive television series Canada’s Greatest Know-It-All. He's the author of Beyond the Known, a history of exploration from the beginning of humanity to our spacefaring future, and of three books in the Epic Space Adventure series (Epic Space Adventure, Mars Rover Rescue, Europa Excursion) and the children's book Rocket Science.

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According to Andrew, we tend to think of exploration as escape, but it’s actually about forging connections. “On a personal level, we travel to connect with our roots, connect with nature, connect with fellow travelers, or connect with new lands and people. At the level of civilizations, connections precipitated the circulation of people, ideas, technologies, and resources,” he wrote in his blog.

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#10

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Caro Caro
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I was once an operator for a IBM mainframe in 1988, Those things were huge even then.

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Shelp
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

And also: Denmark was a neutral country minding its own business, and the Brits attacked it anyways, shelling Copenhagen and sunking all its ships "for safety reasons". Napoleon is not the only bad guy from that time.

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Nathaniel
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Remember the old days of the internet? When you had to put your memes in an envelope? And people were employed to physically deliver your e-mails?

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Vorknkx
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2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Back in the days when losing means you lost, not "go start an insurrection."

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Andrew argues that more connections meant more people working collaboratively to solve problems, like the historical version of the internet. “Most technologies are not invented from scratch, but modified from ideas spread by others. Writing has only been invented on our planet very few times—possibly only twice—but spread to evolve into almost four thousand written languages. As Isaac Newton famously expressed, progress begins with ‘standing on the shoulders of giants’, where one discovery forms the foundation upon which the next is based.” Therefore Andrew believes that the more ideas exchanged, the more shoulders there are to stand on, and the more people standing on top of them.

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AzKhaleesi
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

They sure don't make em' like that anymore. Must be a Timex. (For you youngn's in the back, Timex is a brand of watch. The slogan used to be "It takes a lickin and keeps on tickin. *Note Lickin' used to be slang for a beating.* )

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Baby Jenks
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2 years ago

This is true, he was pretty cool, but this post is a bit misleading. He was not the last royal ruler of independent Hawaii. Their only queen was their last ruler & she deserves credit as well. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liliʻuokalani

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oktopus
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

FYI Mimi Reinhard, who typed up the list, passed away only a couple of days ago. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mimi-reinhard-dies-schindlers-list-typist-dead-age-107/

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May
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Even the bottom middle ones? Why does one of them look like a d**k?

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Miss Frankfurter
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Here's the thing, and I may get down voted to the point of getting kicked off, but so be it. These women were bada$$. They were called a Ferry Squadron because they flew the planes to the places necessary for us to establish air superiority. And they get comments about their looks.

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Caro Caro
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

We should do that today with billionaires not paying their taxes. I would watch ...

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BasedWang12
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2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is not only a well, but a place to hangout away from the brutal heat as the lower you get the more the temp drops. Also used as irrigation ponds/tanks. Called a stepwell, this one looks like it might be Chand Baori.

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Queen Shay
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Did you know male reindeer she’d their antlers in late November/early December but females keep theirs throughout winter. So Santa’s sleigh is pulled by female reindeer.

Anthony Kreashko
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Just for the record... That's an elk... Not a reindeer nor a deer... You can tell by the "white rump"!

Anne McKinney
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I would be scared of those horns swinging around and taking an eyeball or two out!

GPZ
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Billy was excited that his dad had bought him his own reindeer but his excitement turned to diasappointment when he discovered dad had not popped for the flight enabled model

Richard Baker
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The first set of ape-hangers such as are now seen on motorcycles?

BenMaharaj
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I lived in a bush town in Alaska. Dude had a pet reindeer. It loved him. When he’d drive around town it’d stand on the cargo bed and wait for him while he did errands.

BarBeeGirl
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I did a reverse image search (bc I thought it looked like a street in my city) on this and apparently it’s from Wyoming not Canada Sorry

MAKtheknife
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'm going to be a skeptic here. Was that taxidermied? A bull Elk would sweep that idiot right off its back. I'm going with fake here.

David Haile
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That is Otto Ernst on main street in Sheridan, WY. Not Canada.

Remi
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Haters gonna hate, but reindeer are a good herdable source for food and yummy as well. Traditionally in the north that is a major food source.

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#41

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MarmotArchivist
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2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

One of his ancestors, Peter, absolutely trashed this mansion in England where he lived. He was fascinated by wheelbarrows and would use them to burst through the hedges. It's sounds crazy, but look it up.

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Hayley Futter
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I read in horrible histories he grew it because a young girl wrote to him that he would good with a beard or something??

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XenoMurph
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2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It's worth going to have a look at the spire. Popular Russian tourist spot. Apparently...

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AzKhaleesi
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I just watched Capone on Amazon Prime Video .... not the worst movie I've seen. Pretty interesting. It shows you his decline mentally in the last year of his life. Pretty sad. But I also have an affinity for old school gangsters. Back when respect was a thing. Yea they did bad s**t but never hurt an innocent. Not the TRUE mobsters anyway. Something all these idiot gang bangers these days could learn from. Plus my Great grandparents were one of the last civilians to see him alive. He came to their restaraunt and cleared out the place so he could have dinner and my GGrandma cooked for him and my Ggrandpa played poker with him... he won (my ggrandpa) Capone told him usually I don't lose. They said he was a pretty "neat guy" He got arrested a very short time later (no they didn't turn him in)

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Rabbit Carrot
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Given the drug taking even back then I think this is probably the healthier option.

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Wistiti
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Russian billionaires are hopefully doing the same thing right now.

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Monday
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

and yet every Christmas you get some angry soccer mom shouting at a retail employee about it.

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Seán Baron
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Initially the first telephone operators were young lads who were utterly useless. They would fight each other, refuse to connect anyone, swear at the callers, throw away messages and drink alcohol!! Then they got young single women in.

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Guillaume Derode
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Apparently it works so well because they used volcanic ash in their concrete. I can't find the source anymore, though...

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Quiltin Mammar
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Only to be continually kept captive by humans for their pleasure which is shameful

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Kayla J
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2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Owens and Luz Long kept in touch after, but Long's last letter asked Jesse after the war to contact his son and let him know about his father and how things could be. Long died in 1943 and Owens and Karl Long can be seen in the documentary Jesse Owens Returns To Berlin. Naoto Tajima is the other athlete who took home gold and bronze at those Olympics

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Rabbit Carrot
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Often beer was produced because the water was so undrinkable. Oh and they liked to party.

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Rabbit Carrot
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My mother actually had one of these. It was heavy as hell but actually quite fun to use.

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MarmotArchivist
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

There are often inscriptions under roman dog mosaics that read 'cave canem' the oldest known 'beware of the dog' signs.

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Hannah Edwards
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Ines came to Portugal as part of the entourage of Prince Peter’s wife. He had an affair with her and they had children together. When his wife died, the King forbid Peter and Ines from marrying. He banished Ines and eventually ordered her assassination. Peter was devastated, he avenged her by ripping out the hearts of her killers. When he became king he had Ines recognised as Queen and legitimised their children, saying that they had married in secret. There is a story that he had her exhumed and dressed in royal regalia for their coronation, having all at court pay homage to her.

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ADHORTATOR
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2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

it is a dice tower.... to avoid cheating. You can see "VTERE" an the side, I guess on the other panel is written "FELIX", which means "Use it with luck"

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Altea
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Actually, the sanctuary (which is the one dating back to the 700's) is not in the picture. That one is a small church inside a cave. The one in the photo was built in the early 1900's.

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K- THULU
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yep I get that but the flippant caption just annoyed me...just I find the further we get from WW2 the more myths take hold particularly from the American side. My dad was a Londoner who saw his city burn around him, signed up at 18 and went through fkn hell from there on. There was no heroism, no downtime , in his own words it was just killing,non stop till the end. Even when it was over he signed up for occupation duty in Berlin because he couldn't face going home.... In fact that damaged him more than combat, the hypocrisy and bs of the post war period. I may have overreacted but , not wanting to sound like an old fart, people these days are immune to the concept of total war. Ukraine is a shock to most people but not to me. I'm the first member of my father's family not to have to fight in a war. My dad in WW2, his father fought at the somme in WW1 and his father fought in the russian army, only to die as an old man in the anti Jewish pogroms in eastern Ukraine in 1906. War is hell and as bad as it is now, we can't ever trivialize it, ever.

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MarmotArchivist
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In rural Switzerland, dogs were used to pull carts delivering milk cans to the local dairy as late as the 1960es.

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Huddo's sister
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

https://www.amusingplanet.com/2021/08/moving-courthouse-by-rail.html

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Monday
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

A ceremonial gesture. The knife shows they are willing to kill themselves if they make a bad call, it's not something that's enforced for obvious reasons.

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Hańka
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

For the contemporary viewer, the most bizarre is the outfit of the practitioner

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Mermaid Elle-Jaye
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2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Beautiful image. The photographer would have been chuffed how this came out too

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Fred L.
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

How about showing the whole picture instead of a damn partial extract, BP?

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