Interesting facts

[Minx]

The first complaint "letter"

This “letter” was sent in 1750 BC in Mesopotamia from a man named Nanni to a merchant named Ea-nasir. Nanni was mad that he received the incorrect grade of copper that he had already paid for and that the merchant was rude to his servant when confronted.

This was not the last complaint tablet that Ea-nasir would receive. Over a dozen “letters” were found inside his house by archaeologists. He was known for not sending out the products that people had already payed for or would send them to the wrong people. He would also start a new business as soon as his old one failed.

[Minx]

Neerja Bhanot was a 22-year-old Indian flight attendant working on Pan Am Flight 73 when it was hijacked by terrorists during a layover in 1986.

The terrorists quickly executed an Indian-American passenger and threw his body out of the plane. They then instructed Bhanot to collect all the passports of the passengers onboard so they could properly identify other Americans. Bhanot instead hid the passports of the 43 other Americans onboard, hiding some under seats and throwing some others in the trash.

After 17 hours of holding the plane hostage, the terrorists started to set off explosives and opened fire. Bhanot managed to open the airplane doors and instead of fleeing and saving her own life, she started to guide the other passengers off the plane. She was shot in the head while shielding three American children from a hail of bullets. Out of the 44 Americans onboard, 42 were saved.

A 7-year-old child that Bhanot helped protect went on to become a captain of a major airline and said that she has been his inspiration and he owes every day of his life to her.

[Minx]

The first modern flushable toilet was invented in 1596 by Sir John Harrington who installed one for his godmother, Elizabeth I.

Occasionally, some brave knights would conduct sneak attacks by entering the castle via the shaft connected to the garderobe. Throughout history, there have been a number of famous people who died on the toilet. Several of them were stabbed from below while in the process of defecating.

These people include King Edmund II of England (30 November 1016), Jaromír Duke of Bohemia (4 November 1035), Godfrey IV Duke of Lower Lorraine (circa. 26-27 February 1076), Wenceslaus III of Bohemia (4 August 1306) and Uesugi Kenshin (19 April 1578).

I wonder if that’s how the phrase “Bottoms up” was coined.

[Psmith]

I think it comes from the King’s shilling.To recruit for the Royal Navy they would offer a shilling.But sometimes they would hide it in a glass of beer.

[Minx]

I’m certain that you are right. I was just pondering nonsense…

[Ian_Haines]

Only if I was attacked by them!

[Ian_Haines]

Thanks, Foxy!

[Minx]

In 1996, in a zoo in Illinois, USA, an amazing display of empathy between animals took place.

An unidentified 8 year old boy slipped away from his mother, climbed over a barrier and fell into the Gorilla Enclosure. Due to the 20 ft fall, the boy broke his hand and suffered a deep laceration to his face.

Seven gorillas inhabitated the enclosure. Gorillas are known to be fiercly territorial animals. They will fight to the death in order to defend their families. It is estimated that male silver back gorillas have the strength of at least 10 grown human men, though it is estimated to be even higher.

However, one of the gorillas, called Binti Jua, meaning “daughter of sunshine” went over to the boy and cradled him in her arms, all while her own young child was on her back. She then went over to the edge of the enclosure and waited for the zookeepers to come and to collect the child. Binti handed the child over peacefully before returning to the rest of the gorillas.

Binti received worldwide praise and received regular treats for the next few weeks. The boy and the mother have never been identified but the boy did stay in a hospital for 4 days.

Animal behavioural experts claim that Binti used her maternal instincts to look after the child. This may have been influenced by the fact that she had her own baby Gorilla with her at the time, named Koola.

Binti Jua is still alive today, and recently became a grandmother.

Written and shared by @revivedhistory - an independent history page.

Source: ABC News

Photographer: unknown

[Eliza]

I remeber that very well, my son was close to the same age …And I felt the anxiety the mother must have felt watching it play out.

[Minx]

Love is eternal, 1972
Found in the West Azerbaijan Province of Iran in 1972, these two skeletons have been embracing each other for the last 2,800 years. There are several myths about these skeletons. They are not a gay couple as once first thought, with the skeleton on the left being a woman and the skeleton on the right being a man. They were also said to be 6,000 years old which is not true. The hole in the man’s head is not from when he was alive, but it happened during the excavation process.

The skeleton on the left was about 20-22 years old when she died and the one on the right was understood to be 30-35 years old when he died. Both were discovered like this and they have no traumatic injuries. They were probably not buried like this, but they died kissing each other. It is thought that they died during the fire of Hasanlu and that they died from suffocation due to smoke inhalation. Approximately 246 other skeletons were found around this site.

The couple have been named as the “Hasanlu lovers” because of the location where they were found.

Written and shared by @revivedhistory - an independent history page.

Photographer: Unknown

Source: Rare Historical Photos

[Minx]

The lost girl, 1874
Blanche Monnier was a Parisian socialite who was known for her beauty. In France, she is referred to as “La Séquestrée de Poitiers” which means “The Confined Woman of Poitiers”. The reason as to why she got this title is tragic, and it all began with a love story that never had a happy ending.

Monnier was from a wealthy and respected family from Poitiers. When she was 25, she fell in deeply in love with a “penniless lawyer”. This upset her mother, Louise Monnier, who wanted Blanche to marry a man of wealth and notoriety. However, Blanche refused to give up on her lover, so her mother trapped her in a room upstairs in their mansion and padlocked her to a bed. Blanche would remain on this bed for the next 26 years.

During her time in this room, Louise and Blache’s brother, Marcel, would pretend that she had ran off and disappeared. The family had a good reputation, as they donated to charities, and were considered to be intelligent and hardworking people.

In May of 1909, the general attorney of Paris received a letter which told details of Blanche’s situation. He was so horrified, he ordered that the police go to the Monnier mansion immediately. Upon going upstairs, they smelled a foul odour from a room with a locked door. They broke down the door to find Blanche, who was on a bed surrounded with her own excrement, rotten food, bugs and rodents. The smell was so bad, the police smashed the window open, which had been covered for the last 26 years, meaning that Blanch lived in near total darkness for that entire time.

Louise and Marcel were arrested. Marcel was found not mentally capable of standing trial. Louise died of a heart attack 2 weeks after her daughter’s discovery.

Blanche was taken to a psychiatric institution, where she suffered with mental disorders her whole life. She died in 1913. She never gave up on her lover, even though he died at some point during her captivity.

the image above shows Blanche before and after her captivity. It is a real image.

It has never been discovered who sent the note to the general attorney.

Written and shared by @revivedhistory - an independent history page

Photographer: unknown

Source: ATI

[Fruitcake]

Some vineyard owners plant a rose bush at each end of each row of vines to act as a sort of “Canary in a mine”. Being more delicate than the grapevines, the rose will show signs of distress such as insect infestation or air or soil quality problems before the vines exhibit them, giving the landowners time to rectify the problem before too much damage is done.

[Minx]

The March against Fear, 1966

In this picture, civil rights activist James Meredith is shot in the head, back, and neck by a sniper who ambushed Meredith when he led a March to spread awareness of racism. Here is Meredith’s story:

Meredith is a veteran air force pilot. He was the first black man to attend the University of Mississippi in 1962. He was initially accepted; however, when his race was discovered, he was denied entry. The US Court found that the university discriminated against Meredith, allowing him access to the facility. Meredith was escorted by police on his first day as there was a high threat level against Meredith by racists in the area.

In 1966, Meredith participated in a March that he created called “March Against Fear,” in which he was the only participant. The March would last 220 miles. He began his March on June 5, intending to spread awareness against racism and get African Americans to vote for politicians supporting their rights in the upcoming elections.

On the following day, on June 6, Meredith crossed the Mississippi border, where he was ambushed by a white man named Aubrey Norvell. Norvell fired at Meredith from a wooded area and shot him three times. This attack happened despite the March being monitored by police and the FBI.

Meredith survived the attack, and on June 26, Martin Luther King JR and other activists, as well as thousands of participants, took over and completed the March, with Meredith rejoining them shortly before the March ended. While they were on the March, the group was attacked, harassed, and threatened by civilians and the police.

Aubrey Norvell was found guilty of assault and served just two years in prison.

Meredith is still alive today at the age of 89.

Written and shared by @revivedhistory - an independent history page.

[Psmith]

What a brave man.

[Psmith]

They do that here and it had to be explained to me when I first arrived.

[Psmith]

Aubrey Plaza is an actress.Not a public square in Aubrey.

[susan_m]

Mans’ inhumanity to man

[Furryanimal]

Did you know cruciverbalist is a fun word that means designer or aficionado of crossword puzzles?

[Psmith]

Sophy Ridge is an English broadcast journalist not the local name for a chain of mountains in Bulgaria.

[OldGreyFox]

Did you know that some scientists have discovered that Oil has not always been formed like we thought it was, and it is a sustainable product…

https://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/on-energy/2011/09/14/abiotic-oil-a-theory-worth-exploring

Here’s more…

Fletcher Prouty Explains Invention and Use of Term "Fossil Fuels"