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TIL In 1999, a company in Japan installed vending machines selling live kabutomushi (horned beetles) so that children in cities away from the beetles' natural habitat could collect them as pets. The machines were so popular they sold out each day.

Read more theguardian.com

via reddit.com

p8Vbp TIL about Australian drug smuggler David McMillan who is the only Westerner to have successfully escaped Bangkok's notorious Klong Prem prison. He cut his cell bars with hacksaws, scaled seven inner walls, then mounting the outer wall using a bamboo ladder.
p8bQ TIL the mexican drug cartels are building mad max style armored tanks able to withstand 50 calibur rounds and grenades.
xVjl1 TIL Quebec was founded by request of the Native Wabanaki, who figured French guns and ships between them and their enemies would ensure survival. The Wabanaki are one of the few natives who still live on their native lands and speak their native languages as a result. (added sources in comments)
VMZe8 TIL that 20th centuries physicist and Nobel laureate JJ Thomson had 9 students who later won the Nobel prize in physics or chemistry. Robert Oppenheimer was also one of his students.
6ngY TIL that American company MegaBots challenged Japanese manufacturer Suidobashi Heavy Industries to a giant mech fight. Suidobashi accepted, saying “Giant robots are Japanese culture. Yeah, I’ll fight. Absolutely.”