› added 10 years ago

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TIL at age 47 Al Capone regressed to the mental capacity of a 12 year-old-child due to brain damage caused by the neurosyphilis and spent the last years of his life in his Florida mansion raving about Communists, foreigners, and Bugs Moran, who he was convinced was plotting to kill him.

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9kWm TIL in the 17th century in the Netherlands, there was a tulip flower bubble that allowed tulip traders to earn the equivalent of almost $62,000 USD a month.
Ooa5a TIL that Chinese-run factories in Prato, Italy, the majority of which underpay workers and force them to work in horrific conditions, allow designers to put 'Made in Italy' on their labels, and charge a premium because consumers think they are buying ethically produced goods.
x6XrD TIL Edmonton built an experimental suburban community with innovative street design in the 1980s over land that used to contain a garbage dump. It's estimated about 85 per cent of the world's cultures are represented there
j61lN TIL in WW 2, an allied oil tanker & corvette were attacked by 2 Japanese commerce raiders in the Indian Ocean. The Japanese had over 8 to 1 gun edge + torpedoes. The tanker took 2 torpedo hits and many shell hits. Surprisingly, 1 Japanese raider was sunk and the allied ships made it safely to port.
kOYp1 TIL: that the phrase ‘devil’s advocate’ comes from a medieval job title. The ‘advocatus diaboli’ was the guy tasked with coming up with counter arguments when a priest was nominated to be blessed or canonized.