› added 5 years ago

414

TIL that 'Tar and Feathering' wasn't fatal because it was done with pine tar not the asphalt type in modern times

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d0dK TIL the Count of Monte Cristo was likely based on the true story of a man who was wrongfully imprisoned by his friends, found a hidden treasure whose whereabouts were told to him by a dying priest, and later returned to Paris under a false name to exact vengeance on his accusers
kJrvm TIL a United States government contract to create synthetic rubber gave birth to Silly Putty.
wJx6 TIL that synchronized swimmers have an unusually high rate of concussions for athletes, basically as a result of kicking each other in the head.
awrlZ TIL of Stephen Wiltshire, an autistic British artist who can draw a landscape from memory after seeing it just once. He can draw entire cities from memory, after just a single, short, helicopter ride. When he drew Rome, he drew the exact number of columns in the Pantheon
x6elw TIL that Bulgarian scientist Victor Ninov fraudulently claimed to have discovered two new chemical elements (116 and 118) while working at Berkley. Later investigations found he had also falsified evidence for elements 110,111, and 112, but escaped consequence as real elements were soon found.