› added 11 years ago

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TIL that after Haiti’s independence in 1804, Jean-Jacques Dessalines, self-proclaimed Emperor of Haiti, ordered and carried out a massacre of the entire remaining French population of the island, numbering 3000-5000 people of all ages and gender.

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oRPn7 TIL that in the Battle of Mokra, WW2, Polish cavalrymen armed with antitank rifles charged through a German panzer column and forced them to retreat, temporarily defending the village from the German invaders.
p8drO TIL that Walt Disney gave his housekeeper, Thelma Pearl Howard, stocks of the company during holidays and birthdays every year, instead of cash. The stocks were valued very little at the time, but by the time she was in her 70s, they were worth $9 million.
VM9PZ TIL An electric eel can also remotely control its prey's movements, with electrical impulses acting on the prey's motor neurons. It can make hidden prey twitch to reveal itself, and then freeze so that it doesn't escape.
8aAv4 TIL on 1st April 1996 Taco Bell spent $300k on ads claiming that they purchased the Liberty Bell and named it Taco Liberty Bell, and achieved $25 million in free publicity. The White House Press Secretary got on the joke, saying the Lincoln Memorial was turned by Ford into Lincoln-Mercury Memorial.
VBYE0 TIL more than 90% of cigarettes sold worldwide have a filter.These filters are typically made of a plastic called cellulose acetate, and are not biodegradable.