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With real-life facts often being far stranger than fiction, there’s nothing like a good history book to get your noggin’ joggin’ and make you appreciate life from a whole different perspective. I might have started my love affair with history as a subject with the amazing Horrible History book series, but I’ve since then graduated to thick and dusty tomes.

However, I still have a yearning for the more fun and unusual aspects of history that first drew me in. And that’s where the Weird History Twitter page comes into play. A page with 172k followers that’s been active since September 2011, Weird History is the brainchild of Andrew Rader who does, well, pretty much everything: from book-writing to cool space stuff.

Have a look through some of the coolest recent posts made by the Weird History project, upvote the ones that you liked best, and later on consider absorbing some more delicious knowledge from Bored Panda's previous articles about the Twitter account here and here.

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

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

Our world was built from the back of the horse. They are one of the most important creatures who ever lived.

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Andrew has a PhD from MIT in long-duration spaceflight, is an expert in space exploration, and has authored a host of academic and technical papers. What’s more, he’s an avid writer, having published books for adults and children alike, and he creates tabletop games in his spare time.

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

The kit now is granted by (...) to all expectant or adoptive parents who live in Finland or are covered by the Finnish social security system!

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New Prometheus
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2 years ago

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You can always use any box as a bassinet, this is no different...

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

Meanwhile in my country they are trying to convince us to have kids giving NOTHING to young couples that are struggling with the lowest wage!

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ベンジーBenji
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That's actually really cool. In the US you just get a really big bill/a lot of medical debt.

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

Is not for low-income women, it is for families. Anybody have the right to get one

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

Kits used to be provided to expecting women in France (are they still?). It would be lovely if something like this was provided everywhere.

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

I was so shocked when I've read that the first time. Over here we just joke that kids cost a lot of money, but you literally go into debt to have them. That's so messed up!

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

I love my country (U.S.). There are as many things right with it as there are wrong, BUT some of these Nordic countries put us and a lot of other places to shame.

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

You can also choose, you can either take the kit or it's value in eur.

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

Not it's full value, the amount of money is a lot less the box is worth. But when you are on your 4th kid, probs don't need the stuff anymore.

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

We still have this, and it's not only for low-income families, it's for everyone. Its content is varied.

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

I believe women in Finland still receive this - but now it comes in a very thick cardboard box which converts to a baby cot which will last the baby for the first month of life.

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I Just Changed My Name
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Not really seeing anything for the fourth trimester in there. If not then, hopefully now, items are included for the moms' healing.

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

Making sure people can take care of their newborn child? But where's the profit? Why, that's just socialismism!!!1! /s

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

such and amazing idea! baby boxes should still be happening!

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Niamh Gallagher Kerr
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

A similar box is given in Scotland. The rest of the UK is different. https://www.parentclub.scot/baby-box

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

VERY THOUGHTFUL! LOOKS LIKE A WHOLE LOT OF "GOODIES" !

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

In the US, the maternal mortality rate among Black women is very high, so you'd be lucky to survive the birth.

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

Wait, isn't Finland the country that gives such care packages to every pregnant woman till today? Or was that Sweden?

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Hermione
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2 years ago

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But wait, there’s more! If you purchase your DIY childbirth kit before 5 minutes from now, you can have not one, not two...

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

That is an unimaginable long time, yet such a tiny fraction of how long life exists on earth...

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The Canadian, who now lives in Los Angeles in California, has also been extensively featured in the media, including in The New York Times and by Vice. And finally, adding to his great list of achievements, he’s a real trivia aficionado (even having taken home awards) and he’s the curator of the Weird Science account, too.

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

That might be because in the 1930s, people were still catching tuberculosis from cow's milk. Sick cows can transmit the bacteria through non-pasteurized milk, so if the hospital had its own herd then they could make sure all the beasts were healthy and not infecting the patients.

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

In the prehistoric times, the customer service complaint was a wooden club...

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Since 2014, Andrew has been working at SpaceX as a Mission Manager, while previously he had got 4 years of experience as a Spacecraft Systems Engineer at COM DEV. One of the coolest things about him (at least for me) is that he was a candidate for the Canadian Astronaut Corps back in 2009 and as recently as 2017.

What’s more, he was being considered as one of the potential candidates for a one-way mission to the Red Planet as part of the Mars One project in 2014. It should be clear by now that Andrews’s passion for science and history aren’t just for show—he’s dedicated his life to the pursuit of truth, knowledge, and pushing the limits of mankind. And Weird History… it’s just the tip of the iceberg.

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

The president and the prime minister of many states are not allowed to share the same aircraft. And, during the war, the medics weren't allowed to share the same foxhole.

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

I mean... As far as prison cells go, that surely isn't that bad, right? lol

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

Fast forward 82 years later and people moan about having to wear a cloth/paper mask on planes.

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J. F.
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

And it took a long time to re-discover the need of taking vitamin rich food on sea travels

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

Cousins are nice, but when a little horde of bloodthirsty bolcheviks want tu slaughter your family, they are not here to help you.

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Kai Wee Toh
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

...and then they replaced the cocaine with something more potent and addictive - refined white sugar.

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

Combines the pleasure of horseriding with the anxiety of being accidentally blinded by your mount

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

It's beautiful there. I visit it once in a while with my kids.

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

well, that's basically only time of home i could afford, so they weren't that wrong

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

I thought he said redcoats; though regulars make more sense, red was a popular color for coats

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

A tendency to decapitate the pilot. How many people had to die before they concluded it was a design/idea fault and not just bad luck on the part of the pilot?

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

Most english words have origins in other germanic or lating languages.

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Luis Hernandez Dauajare
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Fun fact: when Titanic sank, the White Star Company refused to pay officers and crew members for services provided during the sinking. And the family of one of the band members who died actually was charged for the loss of his uniform.

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

In France they call it the "iron harvest". About 900 tons of unexploded ordnance is recovered every year. If you drive around the battlefields it is perfectly common to see a handful of old hand grenades or mortar rounds sitting on the verge at a farmers' gate, waiting for the bomb disposal people to come on their latest run to pick them up.

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

More beavers need to be relocated to the American West. By trapping water behind dams they make water tables rise, which helps reduce wildfires and increases reservoir levels.

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

Surely a while after him the name "sandwich" stuck but people have been putting stuff between slices of bread (or variations of bread) for thousands of years.

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