› added 12 years ago

74

TIL that in 2003, a German citizen was kidnapped by the CIA and beaten, stripped, violated and tortured - until they found out they had the wrong guy.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

Ampx TIL due to centuries of inbreeding Charles II of Spain was physically and mentally disabled and infertile. Due to the deaths of his half brothers, he was the last member of the male Spanish Habsburg line. He didn’t learn to walk until eight. His jaw was deformed, he could barely speak or chew.
dDvKE TIL that in the 18th and 19th centuries, cemeteries in Britain used "cemetery guns" to prevent grave robbing. These guns were set up near graves and were designed to discharge when triggered by a tripwire, stopping "body snatchers" who stole corpses to sell to medical schools.
XE5K8 TIL "Minotaur" means the "bull of Minos," the creature's actual name was Asterion
Wdyo TIL in 1960, the chairman of the Japanese Socialist Party was assassinated during a televised debate by a man wielding a samurai sword.
GYye4 TIL the slogan "Don't Mess with Texas" began as an anti-littering campaign in 1985 targeted at "bubbas in pickup trucks" who littered beer cans out of their vehicles and ordinary Texans who believed that littering was a "God-given right".