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TIL: Jean Meslier (1664-1729) was a French Catholic priest, actually an atheist, who left after his death an entire book criticizing religion

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6EWWl TIL that pencils historically never had lead in them, they in fact always had graphite. When graphite was discovered, it was thought to be a form of lead, hence calling it "lead" in the pencil.
DQXZY TIL in 1955, someone dropped a 600-year-old plaster Buddha Statue only to discover the plaster was covering a solid gold statue beneath
oRvM7 TIL that between 1998 and 2015, the Defense and Housing and Urban Development departments had reported $21 trillion in "unsupported adjustments". That is, $21 trillion missing in tax payer money; They cannot track it, nor do they know what it was spent on. That's 65,000 lost dollars per American.
x9Z7 TIL that Arthur Shawcross, a man who raped and killed 2 children, was sentenced to 25 years in prison but was paroled early because it was concluded that he was “no longer dangerous”. Eleven months after being released he started killing again, murdering 12 women before being captured.
ne6YG TIL TV series Breaking Bad inspired a series of real life crimes. The crimes include a meth dealer dying their drugs blue, a murderer disposing of a body with sulfuric acid, a 55-year-old drug dealer using the name of "Walter White", and a school teacher with cancer making meth to pay for treatment.