› added 13 years ago

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TIL the inventor of the Brazen Bull, Perilaus of Athen’s, was tricked into being the first victim of his sadistic execution device; one of the most common methods of execution in Ancient Greece.

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VGr0 TIL that Salvador Dali made a painting for the prisoners at Rikers Island in NYC that hung in the prisoner dining room for 15 years, when it was moved to the prison lobby for ‘safekeeping’. In 2003, three prison guards and a warden stole the painting.
VMKkm TIL on March 27, 1977, Robina van Lanschot decided to not reboard her flight, staying at her layover destination, despite this being against the rules. She was the sole surviving passenger of KLM Flight 4805, which crashed into Pan Am Flight 1736 on takeoff, killing 583.
bal7 TIL that Jimmy Carter saw a UFO in 1969. He was so impacted by it that he promised to disclose every piece of information about UFO sightings if he became president. However, after being elected, he distanced himself from disclosure, citing “defense implications”.
W7xld TIL before his comedy career, Chevy Chase was a drummer in a group with Walter Becker and Donald Fagen, who would later go on to form Steely Dan.
OGLKg TIL for decades, Marian Breland Bailey and her husband(s) trained animals to do tricks for fun and profit—piano-playing ducks, tic-tac-toe-playing chickens, dolphins for the Navy, cats for the CIA—and ended up pioneering a more humane approach to animal training.