› added 11 years ago

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TIL in 1960, a Retired Postal Worker stalked JFK with the intent of assassinating him. On Dec. 11, he was prepared to ram Kennedy with a dynamite-laden 1950 Buick, but changed his mind at the last minute when he decided he didn’t want to hurt Jackie and her children.

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JlMm TIL Tobey Maguire has won over $10 million playing professional poker.
xVbY5 TIL when Weird Al Yankovic asked the publishers of The Kinks' Lola whether songwriter Ray Davies would allow its parody, Yoda, to be released, he got a negative response. However, when Yankovic met Davies five years later, Ray told him that he had never been asked and allowed Al to release Yoda.
9Ymbm TIL about Operation Pluto, an operation to lay submarine oil pipelines under the English Channel in support of the Allied invasion of Normandy during WWII. The two pipelines, "Bambi" and "Dumbo", carried 180 million imperial gallons of petrol to the Allied Expeditionary Force in North West Europe.
yGPv TIL The word “echo” comes from Greek Mythology - Hera was so annoyed she punished Echo by taking away her voice, except in repetition of another’s shouted words. Thus, all Echo could do was repeat the voice of another.
VB1ep TIL that the word 'quarantine' originates from the Venetian word 'quarantena,' which means '40 days.' In the 14th century, ships arriving in Venice from plague-infected ports were required to sit at anchor for 40 days before landing to prevent the spread of the disease.