› added 11 years ago

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TIL after escaping from prison a man & his girlfriend were partying in New Orleans. At one point, they couldn’t find their car filled with drugs and stolen items. the man flagged down a police car and asked for help finding his car; the cops found it and posed for a picture before leaving

6EQgJ TIL Maximilien Robespierre tried to shoot himself in the head but only managed to shatter his lower jaw, when he was being led to the guillotine the executioner took off the bandage that held his jaw in place, leading him to produce an agonized scream until the fall of the blade silenced him.
WkaMd TIL that the largest island of the South Pacific nation of Vanuatu was originally named "La Austrialia [sic] del Espíritu Santo" - after both the monarchy of Austria (ancestors of the Spanish monarchs) and the Great Southern Continent, Terra Australis (which Australia was later named for)
jNlnR TIL Carousels were first invented for training knights in jousting with wooden horses and try to hit targets as they spin
mxw0x TIL about the Singing Revolution which was a series of events between 1987 and 1991 in the Baltic States which incorporated the singing of patriotic songs as a method of protest against the Soviet Union. These events would ultimately result in the Baltic State gaining their independence.
Ood7L TIL while filming a 170 foot waterfall in the movie Apocalypto, a cow was trying to cross upstream and went over the falls. It emerged at bottom, banging against the rocks, but after a local man swam in to calm the cow it then climbed up the bank and began eating grass as if nothing had happened.