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163

TIL that Tom Cruise's character in "The Last Samurai" was based on a real Frenchman who fought alongside the warriors of a doomed "samurai democracy" in 1869

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via reddit.com

6EQDQ TIL of the "Chicken poop prison" in Thailand. The ceiling of the cells was a grate, and chickens were cared for above the cell. Their dung was then allowed to drop freely onto the criminal within.
7dlp TIL that in Queensland the age of consent for anal sex is 18, while it’s 16 for all other sexual activities.
xL17 TIL most languages name the game of Chess after their word for “check”
ojlK TIL On Space Shuttle Endeavor, astronaut John Grunsfeld called into NPR’s Car Talk and asked why his government vehicle was shaking violently for a couple minutes before the engine died.
yVGvX TIL the Geneva Convention prevents the use of the graphic + cross symbol (and crescent) in almost all circumstances — except to indicate or to protect the medical units and establishments.