› added 4 years ago

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TIL of the Swansea Devil. In the 1890's, two architects wanted the contract to rebuild a church. The loser later placed a carving across the street and prophesied, "My devil will see St Mary’s burnt to the ground". Swansea was heavily bombed in WWII, including the church, but the devil remained.

jNgxn TIL the name of Africa comes from an ancient name of Tunisia, which was a province of the Roman Empire
o7YL TIL that when a young girl was invited to meet President Coolidge, someone made a bet against her claiming that it was impossible for the president to say more than two words to her. When the girl told the president about the bet, President Coolidge responded, “You lose.”
0wpDj TIL when Theodore Roosevelt's Rough Riders made their famous charge up San Juan Heights, they were entirely on foot. The only one riding anything was Roosevelt. They'd left the horses in Florida.
yVAMa TIL about Saitō Musashibō Benkei, a Japanese warrior reputed to have single-handedly killed over 300 trained soldiers while defending a bridge. His combat prowess in close quarters was so formidable that his enemies had to resort to killing him with a volley of arrows. He died upright.
5VLyk TIL that Brian Acton, co-founder of WhatsApp, left Facebook in 2017 over a dispute on WhatsApp monetization and claims he was coached to mislead EU regulators about data merging. In 2018, he supported #DeleteFacebook, saying it was the right time as pressure mounted on the company.