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TIL that in 1993, Clarence Aaron, a college student with no criminal record, was given three life sentences with no chance of parole for introducing two drug dealers. His sentence was commuted last month.

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X5gP TIL that when a Google employee dies their spouses receive half pay from the company for 10 years and their children receive 1,000 dollars per month until they’re at least 19
9wygQ TIL that Earth orbits where the Sun currently is in real-time, not where it was 8 minutes ago - even though gravity propagates at light speed. Newtonian gravitation does not work unless it is assumed to be instantaneous.
1awdD TIL that in 2010 the Pope’s astronomer, Guy Consolmagno, claimed that if extra terrestrial life were ever to be discovered, and an alien life form requested the sacrament of baptism, then he would gladly baptise the alien.
VMJ40 TIL the Jacobite Earl of Nithsdale was sentenced to the axe. His wife paid a final visit to the Tower of London, accompanied by two maids. They dressed him in women's clothes, a headdress and caked his face in make-up to hide his long beard. The transvestite Lord then simply walked out of his cell
j6ymM TIL that Cher Ami, a pigeon, was awarded the Croix de Guerre for her brave service in World War I. Despite being shot, blind in one eye, and severely injured, he successfully delivered an S.O.S. message for an encircled battalion.