› added 5 years ago

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TIL that Saddam Hussein had a Quran written in his own blood

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9YZe6 TIL on 18 August 1913, in Monte Carlo Casino, 26 roulette spins in a row landed on black. The odds of such an occurrence are 1 in 66.6 million. Many gamblers lost millions of francs as they continually (and incorrectly) reasoned that red was due to come up next.
xVe9k TIL in 2009, Airmen Colton Read went in for gallbladder surgery and woke up with both legs amputated. Military doctors had punctured his aorta and waited 8.5 hours to get him proper medical care. Read or his family aren't legally allowed to sue for damages.
X0Vor TIL that during Prohibition, many wineries would sell shipments of grape juice with instructions for home fermenting (which was perfectly legal). Here are some instructions from Lonz Winery in the Lake Erie region of Ohio.
kJw0E TIL that Milton Hershey was booked on the ill-fated maiden voyage of the Titanic, but had a change of plans for business reasons and, instead, traveled on the German liner Amerika, which had an earlier departure date.
oNQY TIL the idiom “Turning a blind eye” is attributed to Admiral Horatio Nelson who, in the midst of battle and given the permission to retreat by his superior, lifted the telescope to his eye (blinded from an earlier injury) and said “I really do not see the signal” and pressed on with the attack.