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Mostrando postagens de outubro, 2021
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TIL the Irish Myth of "Stingy Jack” about a man who tricked the devil and therefore kept out of hell but is not welcome in heaven. He wanders the earth with a Lantern and Halloween is his time of year.

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TIL that Clara Blandick, who played Aunt Em in the Wizard of Oz, killed herself by overdosing on sleeping pills and tying a plastic bag around her head. She also left a suicide note saying she could no longer live with the pain or face going blind

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TIL that one town in Scotland celebrates Halloween on the last Friday of October instead of the 31st, since there’s no school or work (for most) the next day.

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TIL that Brussels Sprouts have been selectively bred over the last few decades to taste less bitter, indirectly lessening their anti-cancer properties.

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TIL of the Jedi Census Phenomenon which was a grassroot movement to mark Jedi as your religion on the census form. Over 390k people marked this in the UK making it the fourth largest religion, surpassing Sikhism, Judaism, and Buddhism.

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TIL that when Michael Keaton was originally announced as Batman, 50,000 fans mailed letters to Warner Bros in protest and ripped up publicity materials at comic conventions

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TIL the biggest and oldest bald cypress tree in the world was burned down by a 26-year-old Sara Barnes who lit a fire inside the tree to see the meth she wanted to smoke. It was the 5th oldest tree in the world at over 3500 years old age.

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TIL that Heinz petitioned American bun companies to consider equal hot dog-to-bread ratio.

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TIL famed fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent's one regret was that he didn't invent blue jeans. He said, "They have expression, modesty, sex appeal and simplicity, all I hope for in my clothes."

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TIL about Hurshid Pasha an Ottoman general who, after being informed of plans by his opponents to kill him, ordered the construction of a tomb and arranged for an elaborate funeral with all authorities present which he then committed suicide in front of.

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TIL that despite Diogenes' notoriety for philosophical stunts, including his exchanges with Plato and Alexander the great, the philosopher has no surviving written works. Considered to be one of the founders of cynicism, Diogenes is said to have written 10 books, 7 tragedies and a volume of letters.

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TIL that Roman centurions carried vinewood staves to beat lazy soldiers, and one named Lucilius earned the nickname Cedo Alteram, meaning "Gimme Another!" in Latin, because he beat his soldiers so often that he kept breaking his staff and requesting another.

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TIL that in the US it’s illegal for men age 18-25 to move without contacting the Selective Service

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TIL that when Leslie Nielsen died, ESPN published an obituary for Enrico Pallazzo, the umpire he played in The Naked Gun

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TIL that the entire Hard Rock Cafe company is owned by the Seminole Tribe of Florida.

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TIL: Perdue Pharma distributed a music CD to physicians titled “Get in the Swing with OxyContin”

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TIL that there has never been a documented case of a stranger intentionally poisoning a trick-or-treater by tampering with candy; the closest case was Ronald Clark O’Bryan, who laced his own child's candy with cyanide, as part of a scheme to claim life insurance

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TIL that during WWI, a bunch of Australians decided that they would go to no mans land and steal a German tank because they were bored and drunk.

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TIL that in 1859 a 2 hour telegraph conversation between Portland and Boston was able to be had without the use of any battery power. This was due to an aurora borealis generating enough electric current in the telegraph wires.

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TIL about the Veryovkina Cave, the world's deepest cave. Since 1982, a team known as "Perovo-speleo" has been researching and going deeper and deeper. In 2021, at a depth of -1100m, they found the body of a tourist.

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TIL In Pfizer's 2009 settlement, the company had to pay a criminal fine of $1.195 billion and its subsidiary Pharmacia & Upjohn Company Inc. had to forfeit $105 million, for a grand total of $1.3 billion. It's still the largest criminal fine ever imposed in the U.S.

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TIL that one of the real reasons Roman Catholic priests were banned from marriage was to prevent them having 'legitimate' heirs who could inherit property from them. With no legitimate heirs to claim anything from estates, it would all go to the church.

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TIL Elvis Presley was Elton John's wakeup call. In 1976 Elton met Elvis backstage in June 1976 “It was sad,” , recalling Presley’s drugged state. John and his mom were escorted to their seats and they watched with equal parts horror and admiration.

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TIL that during World War 1, the American Expeditionary Forces tried to make the French treat Black soldiers in accordance with Jim Crow laws ''due to concerns that black soldiers and officers working with the French were being treated with too much “familiarity and indulgence.”

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TIL Ford offered Bob Zemeckis $75K to change the DeLorean in Back to the Future to a Ford Mustang. Bob's response was, "Doc Brown doesn't drive a fucking Mustang."

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TIL that when Isaac Newton was removed from school due to his interest in personal pursuits rather than studies, his mother tried to make him a farmer. Newton's hatred for farming and some persuasion from a schoolmaster led him to finish school aged 18 and enter Cambridge University a year later.

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TIL in 1961, Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara wrote a book called “Guerrilla Warfare”, which explained different tactics for waging guerrilla warfare in different countries. Bolivian counter-insurgency forces also studied this book, which eventually led to Guevara’s capture and execution in 1967.

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TIL that after Toronto Blue Jays catcher Reese McGuire was caught masturbating in his car, the organist at an away game against the Braves played the opening riff to ''Beat It'' by Michael Jackson as McGuire walked up to the plate.

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TIL that the foundation of the Taj Mahal is made of wood, and without water from the Yamuna, the wood would dry out and crack, threatening the stability of one of the Wonders of the World.

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TIL that head tilting among dogs are a sign of them processing "relevant, meaningful information" and dogs tend to tilt to the same side consistently

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TIL that loofahs are not sponges from the ocean, but are actually the dried remains of a fruit grown on a tree.

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TIL that Martha Stewart dated Anthony Hopkins but ended the relationship after she saw *The Silence of the Lambs* because she was unable to avoid associating Hopkins with the character of Hannibal Lecter.

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TIL Gladiatrix are the female equivalent of the gladiator of ancient Rome and they were almost certainly considered an exotic rarity by their audiences.

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TIL that in 1987, several French taxi cabs were installed with a device that would shock unruly passengers in the backseat. The then new product was called "the blazing seat," and it was being marketed as a way of making taxi drivers' jobs safer.

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TIL that Lions have a bite force of 650 PSI, which is not much stronger than the hardest-biting dog, the English mastiff (550 PSI)

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Today I learned about Susan Kuhnhausen, a 51 year old nurse, who beat and strangled a hit man to death. The hit man was sent by her estranged husband

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TIL the vast majority of books written in Old English were destroyed during the English Reformation, when the monasteries that kept them were sold to private owners. The new owners couldn't read or even recognize the language, so they used the parchment for insulation, boot polish, and toilet paper.

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TIL that when Hugh Hefner died the Playboy Mansion became the property of neighbor Daren Metropoulos who bought the estate in 2016 for $100 million. He reportedly struck a deal with Los Angeles officials that will permanently protect it from demolition, even from future owners.

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TIL that during prohibition, the US government ordered poison be added to industrial alcohol to discourage consumption. People continued to drink it, so the government mandated more potent poison and it killed as many as 10,000 people.

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TIL that CFO Magazine stopped giving out its annual Excellence Awards in 2001 because the three previous winners had all gone to prison

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TIL About Joginder Singh, an Indian soldier who single-handedly killed 56 people in one battle with a bayonet.

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TIL Sonny Bono is the only member of the U.S Congress to have ever scored a number-one single on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. Having been a musician before becoming a politician.

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TIL the US government preformed radiation tests on unknowing US citizens in the 1940's and 50's. Victims included patients visiting hospitals for various reasons, prisoners, pregnant women, and mentally disabled children.

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TIL The longest continuous sidewalk in the United States is Seawall Boulevard in Galveston Texas. Measured at 10.3 miles(16.6km) long.

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TIL about the Edict of Salerno. In 1231 after noticing the rapidly rising cost of medicine, Emperor Friedrich II made it forbidden for doctors to double as pharmacists and the prices of various medicines were fixed so they could not rise further.

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TIL when John Carpenter was at University he was required to visit a mental institution and saw a boy with a blank, pale, emotionless face who eventually became the inspiration for Michael Myers in his Halloween movies.

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TIL they sold one KFC Double Down per second in Ireland when first launched

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TIL that in 1952, Stalin proposed German reunification under a "neutral and democratic" government, but was turned down by the West. It is still debated whether the offer was a bluff, a trick, or a genuine missed opportunity for reunification.

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TIL about "Quaker Cannons," invented during the American Revolution by George Washington's 2nd cousin, William. Having no real artillery while assaulting loyalist troops in a fortified barn, Washington had a log painted to resemble a cannon and threatened to open fire. The enemy leader surrendered.

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TIL in 1980 the FBI formed a fake company and attempted to bribe members of congress. Nearly 25% of those tested accepted the bribe, and were convicted.

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