› added 11 years ago

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TIL the Swiss Guard, known now as the guys in the silly costumes that stand around the Vatican holding halberds, once stood against an army as it sacked Rome. 189 Guard stood against 20,000 invaders at the Vatican long enough for Pope Clement VII to escape the city.

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Kg9J TIL Jesse Jackson Jr. used campaign funds illegally to purchase, among other things, capes. Cashmere capes.
5VVep TIL that 26 of the 36 missing children featured in the original music videos for Soul Asylum's Runaway Train have been found. Most recently, the remains of Aundria Bowman were identified in 2020, 31 years after she was reported missing.
kOGV5 TIL Miles Davis improvised and recorded with four sidemen the soundtrack for Elevator to the Gallows while watching the movie for the first time.
9wVwX TIL The Germans started shooting their bullets backwards in response to the British using tanks. These reversed bullets were blunt and thus wouldn't be as easily deflected, denting armor and spitting fragments at the crew.
d8KvK TIL That cats were demonized in Europe during the Middle Ages. Many were killed off in an attempt to ward off evil, an action which ironically helped spread the plague.