/u/hansolospiritanimal's posts in /r/askhistorians

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Why are most coins round? Have this always been the case? And for cultures that didn't have round coins, why would they chose to have another shape?

392 upvotes

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How much censorship, if any at all, were american and european newspapers under in the 19th century?

32 upvotes

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How did the practice of castrating young boys in order to preserve their high-pitched singing voices begin? And what caused the practise of producing these castrati singers die out?

2 upvotes

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I read that sailors would pour oil into the ocean to calm the waves. Is this true, was it common practice and how much benefit would there really be to it?

1 upvotes

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Title	Upvotes	Mark as read	Favorited	Rating	Add to a list
Why are most coins round? Have this always been the case? And for cultures that didn't have round coins, why would they chose to have another shape?	392
How much censorship, if any at all, were american and european newspapers under in the 19th century?	32
How did the practice of castrating young boys in order to preserve their high-pitched singing voices begin? And what caused the practise of producing these castrati singers die out?	2
I read that sailors would pour oil into the ocean to calm the waves. Is this true, was it common practice and how much benefit would there really be to it?	1