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TIL in 456 BCE Aeschylus, the father of Greek tragedy, was killed after an eagle dropped a tortoise on his head. According to Pliny, Aeschylus had been avoiding a prophecy which foretold that one day a house would fall on him and take his life.

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Zywa TIL Mark Twain wrote that Ulysses S. Grant’s memoirs are “an unapproachable literary masterpiece” and that the memoirs are regarded as the best military memoirs in existence.
OoYLL TIL when ‘The Shining’ premiered, the MPAA wouldn’t allow blood to appear in any trailer “approved for all audiences,” but Stanley Kubrick managed to get a trailer comprised solely of the elevator scene passed by convincing the board the tsunami of blood was rusty water.
XYeX TIL while on duty at a Soviet nuclear attack warning station in 1983, Stanislav Petrov’s computer indicated the US had fired several missles. He decided his computer was faulty and urged against a launch. He was right, averting nuclear war, but was not rewarded and was reprimanded by his superiors.
4k0Qg TIL a quarter is often referred to as "two bits" unwittingly in reference to pieces of eight used in the golden age of piracy. One Spanish dollar was worth Eight Spanish Reales. Two Reales (or bits) was equal to a quarter of one dollar.
70Ar TIL a stray dog followed a Swedish racing team through the Amazonian jungles and rivers to complete a 430-mile (688 km) race, just because one of the team members had given it a meat ball during one of the earlier halts.