› added 5 years ago

108

TIL The Papal election of 1268-71 was the longest in history. It took so long that the cardinals were locked in, their rations were reduced to bread and water, the roof of their hall was removed, and 3 died of old age. The new Pope changed the rules to stop it from repeating, making the Conclave.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

Z8GQR TIL the source of a 1964 Typhoid outbreak in Scotland was traced to a river in Argentina. A meat processing plant there used polluted river water for cooling tins of canned beef. Somewhere there was a leak, which contaminated the meat before it was shipped to Scotland, where it killed 3 people.
awgWy TIL that 100 years ago, motorised kick scooters like todays ”Bird“ scooters, were already a thing. They were foldable, had a top speed of 15 mph and were used by New York gangs as getaway vehicles.
gMK5A TIL that the real "Last Samuraï" who inspired the movie with Tom Cruise wasn't American, but rather a French officer named Jules Brunet
oRP1R TIL that the character D-day from Animal House (1978) can actually play songs on his throat.
OG4G4 TIL about Rikky von Opel, a former Formula One driver from Liechtenstein who retreated to a Buddhist monastery in Thailand. His exact whereabouts are unknown. He is also the great-grandson of Opel car brand founder Adam Opel.