› added 4 years ago

348

TIL: Dove bars aren't soap

yVkWw TIL In October 1809 Friedrich Staps attempted to assassinate Napoleon but was captured. Napoleon himself interrogated the would be assassin. On the possibility of being pardoned Staps said, ‘I would notwithstanding seize the first opportunity of taking your life.’ and he was executed on the 17th.
Mw0m TIL That Leonardo da Vinci claimed to have dissected more than 30 people in his pursuit to further understand human anatomy, and his more than 240 detailed drawings and over 13,000 words of observations revealed many then unknown characteristics of our bodies. However, all this remain unpublished.
WkWkB TIL 2 hours before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the USS Ward identified and destroyed a Japanese mini-sub attempting to pass through the anti-submarine nets at Pearl Harbor. These were the first American shots fired during WW2, and removed America's neutrality in the war.
5YJkQ TIL Stephen Hawking was still working on "Brief Answers to the Big Questions" with questions like "Is there a God?" when he died. To fill the gaps, the publishers used Hawking’s “enormous personal archive” and completed the book with his academic colleagues, his family, and personal estate
4pd5 TIL Phillip II of Macedon sent an envoy to Sparta threatening: “If I win this war, you will be slaves forever.” - The Spartan’s replied: “If.” Both Phillip and his son Alexander (the Great) avoided Sparta entirely.