› added 4 years ago

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TIL that since the 1800s, the decade with the highest rate of assassinations of heads of state around the world was the 1970s, and on average most assassinations occur in October.

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emYD TIL that Hunter S. Thompson, one of Richard Nixon’s biggest critics, was picked to ride with Nixon on a private drive to the airport during the 1968 election. The reason? Because Nixon felt like talking football, and Thompson was the only reporter who knew anything about the sport.
7reLM TIL That the Pantheon is still standing after two millennia because the Romans used better quality concrete than we do
yQ4Zv TIL that when Samuel Fuller left Hollywood to fight in WW2, he refused offers for desk jobs and instead enlisted as an infantryman, saw heavy fighting, and even liberated a concentration camp. Returning home with a Silver Star, he became one of the most influential filmmakers of all time.
Y7yKr TIL there are 3 main types of circus clowns in a traditional clown trio: The Whiteface Clown (leading clown, most important), the Contra-Auguste Clown (imitator of the Whiteface clown and mediator, second most important), the Auguste Clown (submissive to the Whiteface clown, least important)
kJARg TIL that before the raid of Osama Bin Laden in 2011, two 1:1 scaled versions of his Pakistani compound were built in the US, for SEALs to practice their raid on. The elevation of these test compounds was also built to be at the same level, to test the affect it would have on the raid helicopters.