› added 3 years ago

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TIL that in order to appease Persia for killing their ambassadors, Sparta sent two young noblemen volunteers, Bulis and Sperthias, to offer themselves to be executed in atonement. Xerxes sent the men back, saying that he would not sink to Sparta's level and did not consider Sparta's guilt loosened.

Go0j TIL that Yogi Berra was ejected from a game after umps ruled that a ball hit by his player hit the concrete wall, which was in play, and not the plywood wall, which would be a home run. Yogi exclaimed, “Anyone who can’t hear the difference between wood and concrete must be blind.”
Zp84G TIL in San Francisco, the artists Winston Smith and Jayed Scotti distributed false posters for bands and clubs that didn't exist. Often, the addresses shown on the flyers were located in the Pacific Ocean.
ydeM TIL In 2003, Pres. Bush started PEPFAR, providing antiretroviral drugs to African nations, lowering the AIDS rate by 10% and saving 1.1 million lives
wn5o TIL a school headmaster in Britain had to resign after he announced the retirement of a teacher using acrostic writing, where the first letters of each word spell out a hidden message. His statement began “We all now know every really great teacher has to finish one day…”, spelling out ‘wanker’.
nWemP TIL that every nation’s passport is a shade of blue, red, green or black. There are no rules about the cover color, but most countries decided that the simple, dark hues looked the most official.