13/v mmxv

There is no archaeological evidence that Masada’s defenders committed mass suicide.

Queen Elizabeth I was born at the Palace of Placentia, Greenwich.

Flamingo milk is bright red. Both mother and father flamingos produce it.

In 2008, the wife of the President of Kenya received a salary of $92,000; in a country where the average worker’s income was less than $400 per year at the time.

In the first chapter of Mein Kampf, Adolf Hitler writes he is doing God’s work and executing God’s will in exterminating the Jews.

See other: Quite Interesting Facts

On Hate

“Suggesting I hate ‘people with religion’ because I hate religion is like suggesting I hate people with cancer because I hate cancer.”

– Ricky Gervais

 

20/xi mmxiv

Strabo, in his Geographica, described the Irish as man-eaters who had sex with their mothers and sisters.

Hummingbirds, bees and ants spend 80% of their day doing absolutely nothing.

Religion was illegal in Albania until 1990.

Napoleon had a naked statue of himself commissioned, with a strategically placed leaf hiding his manhood. The British Government later purchased the item and presented it to Wellington.

There are more Irish in New York City than in Dublin, Ireland; more Italians in New York City than in Rome, Italy; and more Jews in New York City than in Tel Aviv, Israel.

See other: Quite Interesting Facts

Antisemitism of Martin Luther

‘They are our public enemies. They do not stop blaspheming our Lord Christ, calling the Virgin Mary a whore, Christ, a bastard, and us changelings or abortions. If they could kill us all, they would gladly do it. They do it often, especially those who pose as physicians—though sometimes they help—for the devil helps to finish it in the end. They can also practice medicine as in French Switzerland. They administer poison to someone from which he could die in an hour, a month, a year, ten or twenty years. They are able to practice this art.’

– Walch. J.G. (1883) Dr. Martin Luthers Sämmtliche Schriften [The Collected Works of Martin Luther] St. Louis, United States: Concordia, Volume 12, p. 1264-1267

‘[Luther’s] opposition to the Jews, which ultimately was regarded as irreconcilable, was in its nucleus of a religious and theological nature that had to do with belief in Christ and justification, and it was associated with the understanding of the people of God and the interpretation of the Old Testament. Economic and social motives played only a subordinate role. Luther’s animosity toward the Jews cannot be interpreted either in a psychological way as a pathological hatred or in a political way as an extension of the anti-Judaism of the territorial princes. But he certainly demanded that measures provided in the laws against heretics be employed to expel the Jews—similarly to their use against the Anabaptists—because, in view of the Jewish polemics against Christ, he saw no possibilities for religious coexistence. In advising the use of force, he advocated means that were essentially incompatible with his faith in Christ. In addition, his criticism of the rabbinic interpretation of the Scriptures in part violated his own exegetical principles. Therefore, his attitude toward the Jews can appropriately be criticized both for his methods and also from the center of his theology.’

– Brecht. M. (1993) Martin Luther – The Preservation of the Church 1532-1546 Minneapolis, United States: Fortress Press, Volume 3, p. 350-351

8/v mmxi

In Greek mythology, who were the hundred-armed, fifty-headed giants?
– Hekatonkheires

What is the capital of Azerbaijan?
– Baku

Which nation’s heraldic motto is: ‘A mari usque ad mare’?
– Canada

What was the name of the goddess of chess invented by the Italian Renaissance poet Hieronymus Vida?
– Caïssa

Shylock, a Jew, whose trade was money-lending, was a character in what Shakespearean play?
– The Merchant of Venice