› added 5 months ago

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TIL about Senet, an ancient Egyptian board game over 4,500 years old—among the oldest known. Played for over 2,000 years, it symbolized the soul's journey through the afterlife. Though its original rules are lost, historians have reconstructed the game using surviving evidence.

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aeRZ TIL that Billy Joel attempted suicide in 1970. He did it by drinking furniture polish because “It looked tastier than bleach.” He later released a song called “You’re Only Human (Second Wind)” to discourage teenage suicide.
GYRn4 TIL that Bertha Benz became the first person to drive a car over more than a short distance when she took her husband's new invention without his knowledge and drove up to her mother's house to prove that the invention will be successful once it's shown to be useful
OoN0Y TIL that "Big Ben" is not a clock, a tower, or even a building. It is the name of the large bell that is located inside Elizabeth tower.
m18ZE TIL about Spiro Mounds, a pre-European North American city where so much well preserved treasure was found it was called "an American King Tut's Tomb" It was bought by a mining company for $100, looted, mined, and blown up by dynamite.
Br6ab TIL a DC restaurateur received constant harassing phone calls for years, where a child's voice would threaten his family & friends' lives. His employee's son was attacked by random men & his home vandalized w/ threats. The FBI traced the calls to random phone booths all over DC