› added 9 years ago

792

TIL that in 86 AD, the Colosseum was filled with water to stage a full naval battle

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XbwR TIL that talking drums were used in Africa for centuries to transmit messages over long distances by mimicking speech. When these were brought to America during the slave trade, they were banned because slaves used them to transmit messages their masters couldn’t decipher.
4j1b TIL a 400 pound Scotsman once went 382 days without eating. He only consumed water and vitamins and ended the diet at 180 pounds.
WW8Y TIL The Celebration Music at the end of The Phantom Menace is the Emperor’s Theme in a major key. A haunting foreshadowing.
XEwAr TIL about Miles Copeland Jr., a former jazz trumpeter whose work as a CIA officer inspired the names of his sons' music ventures: Miles III started a record label, International Record Syndicate (IRS); Ian, a talent agency, Frontier Booking International (FBI); and Stewart, a drummer, The Police.
kOdeg TIL Stephen Colbert grew up in South Carolina as the youngest of 11 children. His dad and two of his brothers were killed in a plane crash when he was 10. He became introverted, spent his time reading (especially Tolkien), but eventually found a way to express himself through acting.