› added 4 years ago

163

TIL that Icelandic horses are not allowed to leave the country. If they do, they are banned from returning. This is because Iceland is an island so they have limited diseases, and this is another measure to prevent it.

LQm7Z TIL that in the 1860s, Napoleon III backed the “Pantelegraph", an early fax machine invented by Giovanni Caselli in 1855 - over 20 years before the telephone. It sent handwriting over telegraph lines; 25 words took 108 seconds. It was frequently used to verify signatures in banking.
v1enr TIL that multiple Star Wars lead actors have struggled with a habit of making their own sound effects for fight scenes - to the point where multiple takes needed to be re-shot because you could see the actors making lightsaber noises.
RBO4 TIL the 103rd floor of the Empire State Building was originally designed as a zepplin mooring station, complete with mooring mast, control tower room and passenger waiting room. Unforeseen currents caused by updraft from the building itself made it unusable, with only one zeppelin ever using it.
MPY7 TIL At age 12 and 13, Curtis Jones and his sister, apparent victims of sexual abuse, killed one of their alleged victimizers. Child welfare knew of the abuse, but did nothing. After the murder, the state charged them as adults. Instead of getting help, they got 18 years in prison.
EVn0 TIL that during the Battle of Okinawa, Around 80,000 Japanese civilians committed suicide after being convinced by the Japanese Army that they would be “Tortured, Raped, and Murdered” by the American forces after they invaded. It is known as the biggest Mass suicide in history.