› added 11 years ago

198

TIL Gene Wilder felt insulted by Tim Burton’s remake of “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory”

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nWdGr TIL the Irukandji jellyfish is tiny, almost invisible in the water, yet its sting can cause such extreme pain and terror that people experience days of anxiety, hallucinations, and a feeling of impending death
0wAnj TIL in 1981 a man named Roger Fischer had an idea for a volunteer to have ICBM launch codes put in their chest cavity. In the event of an emergency, the volunteer would carry a knife to be killed with. It was meant to force the personal killing of one man to start the impersonal killing of millions.
e0WBD TIL that Hawaii's statehood was delayed for several decades because of consistent opposition by the "Solid South" (southern states) who refused to tolerate non-white Congressmen
Oo4VR TIL from the Battle of Hastings in 1066 the government of England spoke a type of French called Norman, while ordinary people spoke forms of English. Although Norman died out in England several hundred years ago, it continues in legal terms and parliament is still opened by the Queen in Norman.
oBgDA TIL Mandrakes are real. In one superstition, people who pull up the root will be condemned to hell. The mandrake root would scream as it was pulled from the ground, killing anyone who heard it. In the past, people tied the roots to animals and then used the animals to pull the roots from the soil.