› added 9 months ago

20

TIL: A dude bought flight insurance in 1955 at an airport where his mother was literally about to take off. Apparently, they used to sell it AT the airport and from a vending machine no less. He had planted explosives in her suitcase and killed all 44 people on board to collect the insurance.

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via reddit.com

b8e0 TIL In December 2005, a doctor in England published research suggesting that girls often go through a stage where they hate their Barbie dolls and subject them to a range of punishments, including decapitation and placing the doll in a microwave oven.
MeQ7B TIL that Clement Vallandigham, a defense lawyer in a murder trial accidentally shot himself and died while reenacting the possibility of a victim accidentally shooting and killing themselves instead of his client. The defendant was then set free.
jMen TIL the University of Phoenix spends more on marketing and advertising than on teaching and classroom expenses
plpN TIL that because of a US State Department error, Richard Nixon believed that the Mauritian prime minister was from Mauretania. Confusion resulted as Nixon asked the leader of a jungle country and American ally about desert farming and the importance of restoring diplomatic relations with the US.
1aE6X TIL when in 1968 Greek politician Ioannis Ladas beat up an editor who accepted an article about homosexual acceptance in ancient Greece, he denounced BBC's coverage of the event by claiming all BBC journalists were biased homosexuals. This made him an unofficial spokesman for the Greek junta.