› added 7 years ago

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TIL that, due to California banning civilian ownership of .50 BMG rifles, Barret will not sell or service to any of California’s law enforcement agencies.

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yQ4VM TIL when the deposed last Empress Consort of China was imprisoned, she would hallucinate that she was still in the Forbidden City, demanding opium and servants. Put on display in the jail as if she was in a zoo, she died from malnutrition and opium withdrawal in a pool of her own bodily fluids.
8elaa TIL that the idea of a Potemkin Village was used in multiple countries to cover up an unpleasant or damaging part of town. It derived from stories of a former lover of Catherine II who wanted to impress her so he made portable villages and moved them to reuse in the next part of Crimea, 1787
rRbEe TIL that Romeo and Juliet does not have a balcony scene
b6ogZ TIL that the first writing system evolved from accounting practices in ancient Mesopotamia. Over a thousand years later, Chinese writing independently developed from divination practices in ancient China.
O5XR TIL Tolkien considered languages the foundation of his work. He created the stories for his languages, not the other way around.