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TIL that Joseph-Ignace Guillotin did not invent the guillotine. He opposed executions and when he was unable to have them abolished, he suggested "decapitation by means of a simple mechanism." as the most humane method. When the device was finally invented, it was given his name.

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5jBR TIL A 45 year old Bosnian man named Amir Vehabovic faked his death back in 2007 because he wanted to see who would attend his funeral. Only his mother attended. After this debacle, he wrote dozens of angry letters to his so-called friends and what he thought of their friendship going forward.
8aboV TIL Richard Valenzuela, better known as Ritchie Valens, was born in California and only spoke English at home. Valens had to learn the lyrics phonetically to record "La Bamba" in Spanish.
woKKJ TIL that in the 1980s musical "Chess", the American's fortunes change depending on which version is being played; in the West End version, he quits the match and loses his World Championship, while in the Broadway version, he discovers a tactical edge and gains it.
WkXBA TIL that thalidomide (the drug that causes birth defects like short arms and legs) is still manufactured and is used to treat Hansen's disease (leprosy) in Brazil and India. Babies are still being born deformed to this day.
a8pB0 TIL that Tubercolosis was long thought to be associated with poetic and artistic qualities in its sufferers, and was also known as "the romantic disease". People believed that the fever and infections brought by the disease helped artists view life more clearly.