Post * O5m4 — Curious Curator

› added 11 years ago

92

TIL The ceremony of the keys at the Tower of London has gone on almost uninterrupted for 700 years. It was late once during WWII due to a number of bombs hitting the guard room, knocking the guards and Yeoman warder over. The officer in charge personally wrote a letter to the king to apologise.

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9YBRQ TIL Noam Chomsky considers himself a libertarian socialist, a term which replaced the modern (19th century) form of anarchism. As opposed to common conceptions of anarchists promoting chaos, this is an ideology which embraces anti-capitalist as well as anti-government views.

Mevd8 TIL that the most expensive party in recorded history was hosted by the then Shah of Iran to celebrate the 2500th year anniversary of the Persian Empire. The party invited the world leaders of 65 nations. In today’s money the party would’ve cost around $650,000,000

mx7Nx TIL: Shrek was a book (1990) before it was a movie (2001)

78ZMp TIL about the Macchina of Santa Rosa, a 30m/98ft high machine built to honour Saint Rose of Viterbo. Every year 100 men called "Facchini di Santa Rosa" hoist the machine, weighing about 5k kg/11k lb, and carry it through the streets of Viterbo, in Italy. The machine is rebuilt anew every five years

6Enr8 TIL Jesse Tafero was executed for two murders he did not commit. At his execution the electric chair malfunctioned, and the wrong sponge for conductivity was used, causing flames to shoot out of his head. The process took 7 minutes. After his execution, Walter Rhodes confessed to the murders.