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Ah, history—my first true love, right next to fantasy fiction. There really is nothing like opening up an expertly written, emotionally-riveting history book on a rainy evening with the flames merrily crackling in the fireplace, the wind howling outside your windows, and learning about historical events.

Right among the top history lovers on Planet Earth lies Andrew Rader, a polymath who’s as skilled as his interests are varied. Andrew is the man and the legend behind the incredibly successful Weird History Twitter page that’s chock full of fascinating, intriguing, and even hilarious, well you guessed it, historical facts. The unexpected and sometimes weird things he shares are enough to make a history buff like me squeal with joy.

Go brew yourself a mug of tea or a cup of coffee, scroll on, and upvote your fave fun facts about odd history! When you’re done, you’ll find our delightful post about the Weird History page that the Bored Panda team put together previously right over here.

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

Since founding the Weird History page on Twitter way back in 2011, Andrew’s amassed a following of nearly 159k followers. Since our previous post about the page back in August 2020, the number of fans has grown by nearly 14k people.

And it’s all because of the awesome posts that Andrew makes that entertain and educate us at the same time.

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WilvanderHeijden
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The title shows how little the author knows about suffragettes. One of their goals was to fight the sexual exploitation of women.

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WilvanderHeijden
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

He became a Grandmaster in 1950 at age 39. Like Bobby Fischer, he won the US Chess Championship 8 times, which is still an all-time record.

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Andrew’s incredibly passionate about a variety of different subjects and you can feel that passion in his Twitter posts. Currently, he’s a Mission Manager at SpaceX. He’s more than qualified for this position, seeing as he’s got a PhD in Aerospace Engineering from MIT specializing in long-duration spaceflight.

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He’s someone you could easily look up to if you’re in need of some motivation.

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What’s more, Andrew won the Discovery Channel’s 2013 competitive TV series, Canada’s Greatest Know-It-All. So there’s no doubt that he’s smart and knows his stuff. Basically, the complete opposite of the people that the r/IAmVerySmart subreddit pokes fun at.

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Linus Nilsson
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Such an incredibly sad picture. All these small children, never getting to know their parents.

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Jaekry
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

WOW! How is this not on some list of world wonders... Then again, neither is Angkor Wat in Cambodia which is truly special and exquisite, but Christ the Redeemer in Brazil is, no idea why? It's a relative modern statue. (And off rant.)

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Andrew’s also a published author, having written ‘Beyond the Known’ about the history of exploration: from the very beginning of humanity all the way into our spacefaring future. What’s more, he’s written plenty of other books, including the ‘Epic Space Adventure’ series and the ‘Rocket Science’ book for kids.

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Steve Wilson
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3 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Einstein told Chaplin “People admire you even though you don’t say a word”. To which Chaplin replied “People admire you even though they don’t understand a word you say”.

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But that’s far from everything, the founder of the ‘Weird Science’ account is also a game designer, occasionally dabbles in YouTube videos, and even co-hosts a weekly podcast called Spellbound. The podcast is about a variety of topics ranging from science and history to economics and psychology. The Canadian who was born in Ottawa is now based in Los Angeles and considers himself “an avid trivia player, space enthusiast, science nerd, and history buff,” according to his website.

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engineer_nope.avi
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Authur Conan Doyle is a man way ahead of his time. There are a lot of examples that Holmes used that would become real years after the books.

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The line between a good and a bad historian can be blurred sometimes because, well, history is a pretty blurry subject. There are so many perspectives and interpretations to consider, alongside the validity of historical sources, fact-checking (and double-checking, and triple-checking), and considering the overall historical narrative of any single event.

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And don’t forget about all of the sources that end up being destroyed or being locked up in archives! Dabbling in history can be either a nightmare or an adventure (or both…), depending on your point of view and how invested you are.

Even though what makes a historian good is similar to what makes us look up to any high-quality scientist, the fact is, history just isn’t as straightforward as history is. Sure, you have objective things like dates and the names of the people who participated in events, but you also have intangible, immeasurable things like motivations and aspirations.

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engineer_nope.avi
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Technically, they still do. I mean, have you ever seen someone eating a pez and smoking at the same time?

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Kristof De Smet
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Intense study? Want of employment? Seems I should have been there a few times.

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In essence, history deals with emotions, perspectives, and delves deep into the brilliant, scary, and bewildering things that make us human: the good, the bad, the ugly, and the weird. So it’s a constant battle to be cold and objective while analyzing the fiery depths of human emotions. Neither one approach is enough (being too detached means you’ll miss out on the real reasons behind events while being too emotionally invested will lead to biases), but balancing both and using them in tandem is where real quality lies.

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Like a detective, a historian constantly evaluates how valid and trustworthy sources are while offering a fresh perspective on facts and figures that might be taken for granted by their other colleagues. At its core, history is the search for Truth (yes, with a capital ‘T’) while knowing that it’ll always be just out of reach. It’s a good thing we have ‘Weird History’ to fall back on when we’re tired from serious analyses and need a fun and interesting pick-me-up.

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CatOfTheDark
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The guy whose head is in the center looks like Rowan Atkinson to me for some reason.

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engineer_nope.avi
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Man, imagine if the people back then being able to look at today's computers. Their minds would be blown.

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N G
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Children often replicate what they see adults doing in the form of "play" to help them process what has happened/is happening.

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Giovanni
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Only the stick was shared, you would use it to skewer a sponge from a bucket full of them and then you would let the used sponge fall in the sewer.

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Ksenia M
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I've seen this fact mentioned so many times. Just to be clear, this a taxes and regulations issue. Nobody actually thought that beer as not an alcoholic drink, which is obvious since any beer bottle has alcohol content stated on it and beer ads have health warnings. Also, Bud? Come on!

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engineer_nope.avi
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The company existed a century before the movie came out so it's just a coincidence.

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Kay blue
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

They still use these today, although they have been updated a bit, for pigeon competitions.

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Helen Haley
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Of course, it didn't. How were you going to secure cat cooperation? We serve them.

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King Joffrey
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Some of the horse riding events during the London 2012 Olympics were also held in a public park.

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Lorraine
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

We also have a version with "a testicle in the pâté" (Yeah we're French, we do talk about genitals and food...)

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Vic
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Ok, I don't believe this one. How they hear about Jidai in a galaxy far far away? :-P

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Ludwig Michiel
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

He was the first one to do it solo. 8 years before him, the duo John Alcock & Arthur Brown had made a non-stop transatlantic flight by plane, and the Atlantic had also been crossed by zeppelins carrying passengers.

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Henry Cheves
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Babylon had 60 digits instead of 10, so they invented different types of math to multiply since multiplication tables were impossible to measure.

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CD Mills
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Early recycling! I know borrowing building material from older structures has gone on as long as there have been humans building structures.

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sdorph
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It didn't work because seagulls are land birds, not sea birds, they never go very far from shore

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engineer_nope.avi
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is, sadly, the reason why so many people were in the Gulags and the reputation of it is so infamous.

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Ludwig Michiel
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

There's even (very short) film footage of this: https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/a15939/1918-wwi-tank-flattening-a-car/

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Edgar Rops
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

He didn't, but he couldn't ride even remotely properly, so he gave the honor to Zhukov, who began military career in the cavalry.

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

A lot of people nowadays still (mistakenly) believe Rio is the capital of Brazil. (or that Sydney is the capital of Australia)

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Brad Guyer
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3 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Able to trace them because an American remembered seeing careful/warning signs of a cable on the shore in the U.S., figured the Russians did the same. Sure enough.

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WilvanderHeijden
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

With climate change progressing, there won't be any North Pole to travel to.

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engineer_nope.avi
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It's because if you only count the land that they controlled, it's pale compare to empires like the British and Mongol Empire.

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WilvanderHeijden
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

They could never imagine security camera's on almost every corner. ANPR and face recognition would be totally unthinkable. And they couldn't even begin to imagine a society where everyone is making video's of how they ordered a hamburger....

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Beeologist
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Louisiana was named after Louis XIV, and founded in 1682. It was all part of Nouvelle-France.

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Coleen
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I believe he also said, "and if any of you tries to tell me you contracted v.d. from a toilet seat, all I have to say is that's a hell of a place to take a woman."

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Kevin Corcoran
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Call bulls#it on this one! Halloween is a Celtic tradition from pre-christian Ireland and is literally thousands of years old.

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Walter
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

well duh they were worn at day! it's not like you only wear them at night.

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QuokkaVibes
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The guy in the center staring in the camera looks like Chandler from Friends confused as he woke up in the war :D

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Linus Nilsson
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I would gave used quotation marks around democracies. Sweden abandoned elections since it would be a distraction in case of invasion. The US can hardly be considered democratic, with their electoral college (wasn't there a post that one theoretically only needed 22% of the votes to win the presidency?)

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