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TIL the “Iron maiden,” commonly accepted as a medieval torture device, was created as a hoax in 1793, pieced together from artifacts found in museums to be used as a “spectacular” object for commercial exposition.

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wLjm8 TIL sloth’s hands work opposite from our own. They close to relax and exert energy to open, which is what allows them to hang from the canopy for extended periods of time and sleep while hanging from a tree.
VBj70 TIL in 2018 after a man bought a storage unit for $500 from 'Storage Wars' auctioneer Dan Dotson, he discovered a safe within it contained $7.5m in cash. When the original owners of the unit found out, they first offered him $600K to return the rest of the loot, but settled on giving him $1.2m.
X0Zk8 TIL the Labord’s Chameleon of Madagascar has an average lifespan of 4-5 months. This is shorter than the time it takes to develop as an embryo (8-9 months)
x6Odo TIL Spike Lee negotiated with a Brazilian drug lord to allow him to film Michael Jackson's 96 music video 'They Don’t Care About Us' in a Rio de Janeiro slum. The drug kingpin replied “With Michael Jackson here, this will be the safest place in the world.”
Ka6B TIL a Greenland shark was tagged off Greenland in 1936 and recaptured in 1952. Its measurements suggest that Greenland sharks grow at a rate of 0.5–1 cm (0.2–0.4 in) per year, thus the largest individuals may live about 200 years, making them among the longest-lived vertebrates on Earth.