In most card games, the king was once the highest card in a suit. But after the French Revolution, the ace was introduced as an act of civil defiance, as the power of nobility declined.
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Source: Mental Floss March/April… Read More
Sixteenth century naval cannons, such as were used in the battle between the English and the Spanish in 1588, were notoriously difficult to load, aim, fire, and reload. A well-trained gun crew could do it in under two minutes. Some Spanish guns took an hour to cool before they could be reloaded. Several exploded anyway, killing their crew.