› added 7 years ago

176

TIL that three original transcripts of the minutes of the 1431 trial of Joan of Arc still exist.

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OomlY TIL that Australian billionaire Clive Palmer had a development plan he wanted to keep secret, so the architect jokingly labelled the block of land as "dinosaur park". After newspapers worldwide reported that they were planning to clone dinosaurs, 500 scientists applied to be involved in the process
eXw6 TIL that the Secret Service purchased a 1907 White Motor Company steam car to follow President Theodore Roosevelt’s horse-drawn carriage. The president himself eschewed riding in the vehicle due to his “image as a rough-riding horseman”.
0wAnj TIL in 1981 a man named Roger Fischer had an idea for a volunteer to have ICBM launch codes put in their chest cavity. In the event of an emergency, the volunteer would carry a knife to be killed with. It was meant to force the personal killing of one man to start the impersonal killing of millions.
0Xm1 TIL That in 1998, a man sued the Nike company for false advertising. The company then challenged the issue, saying that as an artificial person, it was allowed to lie since lying is protected by the freedom of speech granted in the First Amendment.
d7Pd TIL that Stephen King’s drug and alcohol addiction was so bad that he can barely remember writing Cujo. King’s family staged an intervention, showing him evidence taken from his office including beer cans, cigarette butts, grams of cocaine, Xanax, Valium, NyQuil, dextromethorphan and marijuana.