› added 4 years ago

146

TIL that hyenas are more closely related to cats than dogs.

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via reddit.com

d8On9 TIL that in 427BC Athens sent a ship to Mytilene which had instructions to kill all adult men in the city-state. The next day, Athenians voted to change their decision - a second ship was dispatched. Racing through the night, it reached Mytilene just in time to prevent the massacre from happening.
OE5e TIL Former Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke was previously the world record holder for the fastest drinking of a yard of beer, when he drank a “Yardie” in 11 seconds as part of an Oxford college penalty.
ADwK4 TIL Yasunari Kawabata was the first Japanese author to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature. Although he refused to participate in the militaristic fervor that accompanied World War II, Kawabata suggested that the War was one of the greatest influences on his work
Wk0JY TIL, In 2001 Rowan Atkinson managed to keep his private jet flying after the pilot suddenly fell unconscious.
5YOB9 TIL that Wilson the Volleyball from the movie Castaway was inspired when screenwriter William Broyles, Jr deliberately stranded himself for one week on an isolated beach in the Sea of Cortez in which a volleyball washed up on shore.