l7Q15 TIL that Dummy, a deaf-mute fortune teller from Sible Hedingham, was accused of cursing Emma Smith in 1863. A mob beat him and threw him in a brook as an “ordeal by water.” He died of pneumonia in a workhouse. Two men were convicted of assault and sentenced to six months’ hard labour.
8e4MX TIL about Nasubi, a Japanese contestant on a television show where he had to live naked in a secluded apartment and enter contests to win prizes. When he finally won the game, he was flown to South Korea and told to do it again.
P1d0O TIL of the 1983 Video Game Collapse when industry revenues dropped 97% over two years.
epQe4 TIL the term Bisexual was originally used in the 1940s-70s to mean something similar to how non-binary or genderfluid were used today. The modern meaning only gained prominence in the 1970s.
VBv0p TIL after receiving many letters from blind fans of his video games, Kenji Eno sought to create one that both sighted & blind players could experience equally. So he made the blank-screen game, Real Sound: Kaze no Regret. Sega got the rights by agreeing to donate 1K consoles to the visually impaired
X0Q7r TIL after boxes of booster packs containing unreleased Magic: The Gathering cards were opened online, the publisher Wizards of the Coast sent Pinkerton agents to the home of the presenter to retrieve them. They confiscated 22 boxes after a confrontation that reportedly made the presenter's wife cry.
OGK0g TIl of "Bruceploitation", a subgenre of martial arts films made in the wake of Bruce Lee's death to capitalize on his popularity, where "look-alike" actors with their names changed to sound like Lee's (Bruce Li, Bruce Le) starred in movies such as Re-Enter the Dragon and Enter Another Dragon.
69DdW TIL that the year (1974) ABBA won Eurovision, Olivia Newton-Jonn came in fourth
wob88 TIL In 1946 Sadao Munemori became the first American of Japanese descent to be awarded the Medal of Honor, though posthumously
R5108 TIL the USDA defines egg sizes by the minimum total weight per dozen, not on its physical dimensions. A dozen large eggs must weigh a minimum of 24 ounces, medium 21 ounces and small eggs 18.
W7D0o TIL Pedro Pascal’s family is leftist Chilean aristocracy that fled to the US to escape persecution after the 1973 coup d’etat
9wndQ TIL about augury, an ancient Roman divine practise involving the observation of the behaviour of birds to interpret the gods' will. The practise was attempted by Rome's founders, Romulus and Remus, to decide on the city's location, before a dispute over the results saw Romulus kill Remus.