› added 9 years ago

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TIL on New Year’s Eve, 1999, Brad Pitt rented a Mexican resort, filled it with his friends and at midnight had the government cut the power and phone lines and send in troops to raid the compound and “arrest” one of his best friends on drug charges - all as a practical joke!

ADgmw TIL of Operation Foxley - an Allied plan to assassinate Hitler. It wasn't put into place because Hitler proved to be such a terrible strategist that the Allies decided the war would be over sooner with him in charge.
eoNn TIL that in 1954, the CIA launched a covert operation that overthrew the democratically-elected leader of Guatemala and replaced him with a right-wing authoritarian president, beginning over four decades of civil war and political repression
xVdQb TIL of the ‘Window Tax’, where people were taxed based on the number of windows they had on their houses. This was used in the 18th century as a simple method to calculate tax obligations. However, many people bricked up their windows, leading to health problems.
OoeK6 TIL Margaret Hamilton who played the wicked witch in the Wizard of Oz, went on the Mr Rogers show many years later to help show kids she was a nice woman and not just an old witch who wanted to get kids and their dogs
69bEJ TIL A latin teacher incited 3 of his students to assassinate the cruel Duke of Milan, an act they've been groomed for since childhood. Instead of being hailed as heroes, one was killed by the crowd, and one killed by a guard after he run towards a group of women and got tangled in their clothing