› added 6 years ago

195

TIL the quote "To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize" is often misattributed to Voltaire, when it is actually from Kevin Alfred Strom, a convicted pedophile and Holocaust denier

R7r6 TIL in 1914, a 19yo British boy was court martialed for desertion. He was undefended and called no witnesses, as all of his comrades had been killed in action. He was hastily sentenced, and on September 8th became the first WWI soldier to be executed for desertion. He was finally pardoned in 2006.
EgKgP TIL a 2013 study found that the act of chopping down trees results in greater increases in testosterone than does a directly competitive activity such a soccer. Chopping down trees saw an increase of 46.8%, whereas, soccer only saw an increase of 30.1%.
W7YyL TIL Timothy Dalton, "James Bond" actor was first approached to play the role twenty years before he ended up doing it.
VMO8B TIL that we are living through the 6th mass extinction of species in Earth's history, the HOLOCENE EXTINCTION. There have been 5 mass extinctions previously, including the one that killed the dinosaurs. The Holocene extinction or Anthropocene extinction, is a complete result of human activity.
eGdJ TIL that the term “Boycott” comes from Captain Charles Boycott, an Irish land agent who evicted farmers from their land during poor harvests. His entire town shunned him, leaving him without and goods, mail, etc. He was forced to leave the country later that year.