› added 12 years ago

757

TIL that just before boarding the vessel that he was attacking, Blackbeard would take slow burning fuse matches and, with bright red ribbon, tie them in his hair and beard. When lit, these smoking matches gave him the appearance of the Devil.

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rdjo TIL in 1917 journalist H.L. Mencken published a hoax news article stating bathtubs were popularized in the US by Pres. Millard Fillmore after he had one installed in the White House. Thirty years later, even after he admitted it was false, it was still being reprinted as fact.
VMoGD TIL that in the year 1909, the British Intelligence Agency MI6 was formed but it was kept such a secret that it wasn't formally acknowledged until the year 1994.
QGO6 TIL that in Japan, prisoners on death row are not told when they will be executed until a few hours before they are hanged, and their families are not notified until after they are dead.
ADoen TIL Thursday Island, Queensland, was first sighted on a Friday, and nearby Friday Island was first sighted on a Thursday. Their names were swapped after their discovery so it would look better on maps.
KY6YQ TIL about PERV (Porcine Endogenous Retrovirus), a virus embedded in the gene of pigs. It has been studied as a risk factor in pig-to-human transplants.