› added 8 years ago

98

TIL that Comcast sent bills and eventually collection notices to customers that lost their cable, phone, and internet equipment due to Hurricane Ike. The largest reported charge was $1000, but that bill was reduced to $931 to make up for the interruption of her phone service during the storm.

69vpZ TIL that Holy Trinity Church, London hosts an annual Clowns International service honouring deceased clowns and is attended by clowns in full costume. It's also home to the The Clown Egg Register. This is an archive of painted ceramic eggs that serve as a record of individual clowns' make-up design.
9AEQ TIL Tolstoy was an adamant vegetarian. In one instance his aunt requested chicken for dinner. When arriving at the table, she found a live chicken tied to her chair, and a butcher knife on her placemat.
Y7VbP TIL about the Pit of Despair, an apparatus used in widely-condemned experiments that isolated young monkeys in a dark, smooth tank with sloped sides and a curved base. The monkeys were left isolated and hopeless in the dark for months, supposedly to induce and study depression.
dDNK8 TIL: Llívia, a Spanish town with 1,511 residents, is entirely surrounded by France. This unique status stems from the 1659 Treaty of the Pyrenees, which ceded 33 villages in the Cerdanya region to France. However, Llívia was classified as a ‘town’ rather than a ‘village’ leaving it as part of Spain.
l7pAA TIL that four time World's Strongest Man winner Jón Páll Sigmarsson, who famously stated "There is no reason to be alive, if you can't do deadlift!" died at the age of 32 while deadlifting in his gym.