X0KB8 TIL that, after Charles II returned from exile, Oliver Cromwell’s remains were disinterred from his tomb, subjected to a posthumous execution by hanging, and his head was put on a pole for public display for at least 23 years.
OGNOR TIL that there is archeological evidence that, during the early period of the introduction of Christianity in Scandinavia, craftsmen used soapstone moulds capable of crafting both Thor’s Hammers and Christian crosses to conduct business with followers of both faiths.
69KlJ TIL Northern Calloway, who played David on Sesame Street from '71 to '89, had a breakdown in 1980 in Nashville's suburbs where he attacked a woman with an iron, broke into a family's house and smashed their fine crystal, and poured herbicide on his body—while wearing nothing but a Superman t-shirt.
wo7D1 TIL the Kola Superdeep Borehole SG-3 is the deepest human-made hole on Earth, which attained maximum true vertical depth of 12,262 metres (40,230 ft; 7.619 mi) in 1989.
R5YeQ TIL Silbo Gomero is a whistled register of Spanish (a variety of language), that is used by inhabitants of La Gomera, in the Canary Islands. It wasused to communicate across deep ravines and valleys. In 2009, UNESCO declared it a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.
W7arA TIL the first Nepalese woman to summit Mt Everest was Pasang Lhamu, in 1993 at age 31. She died on the same day during the descent and became a national icon.
9w1BX TIL the UK has mosquitoes. Never seen one in all my 30 years yet they're common apparently. How???
nWPDP TIL After it's failure, Atari sold its Jaguar case design to a manufacturer of dental imaging devices. The design was used it to create a dental camera.
4kZPJ TIL Soviet Chess player and musician Mark Taimanov once lost a tournament so badly to Bobby Fischer that he was thrown off the USSR team, forbidden to travel for two years, banned from writing articles, deprived of his monthly stipend, and prohibited from performing concerts
5Va88 TIL The director of the John Wick movies was also Keanu Reeves' stunt double for The Matrix
M78wm TIL that both "Love Will Keep Us Together" by Neil Sedaka and "Love Will Tear Us Apart" by Joy Division were recorded at the same studios in Stockport, England.
x6Zmg TIL that Shoggoths, creatures created by H.P. Lovecraft, were used by A.I. researchers to describe the mysterious nature of big language models like ChatGPT and how we see only the result of this nature's work, creating the catchphrase: "Shoggoth with Smiley Face"