› added 9 years ago

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TIL: Christopher Walken, James Earl Jones, John de Lancie, and John Astin have all recorded a version of Edgar Allan Poes’ “The Raven”. Bonus Vincent Price version in comments

XX9Q TIL Tsar Simeon II of Bulgaria was 9 when Bulgaria deposed of the monarchy in 1946. In 2001, after years in exile, he was elected Prime Minister, becoming the only European monarch to be democratically elected head of state.
NjK1 TIL that in Saudi Arabia, all women, regardless of age, are required to have a male guardian. They also need permission from their male guardian to seek education, employment, open up a bank account, travel (under the age of 45), have surgery and marry or divorce
O667 TIL that 18 years after being shot, 91 of the 220 cast and crew of The Conqueror had cancer and 46 had died including John Wayne, due to the fact that the film was shot on nuclear weapons testing ground in Nevada.
R7lAa TIL of the Tarantula Hawk, a giant member of the wasp family whose sting is described as an "immediate, excruciating, unrelenting pain that simply shuts down one's ability to do anything, except scream. Mental discipline simply does not work in these situations." It's the state insect of New Mexico.
9Y6DX TIL before police used fingerprints to identify individuals, they used a system called Bertillonage which used several measurements of different body parts. It lost popularity when Leavenworth prison had two inmates with the same name, measurements, and physical appearance.