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TIL 3 big game hunters, inspired in part by Richard Connell’s “The Most Dangerous Game,” invented Paintball, “a game where they would stalk and hunt each other— to recreate the same adrenaline rush from hunting animals”

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d89GB TIL although the breakaway basketball rim (a rim that contains a hinge and a spring to prevent the glass backboard from shattering) became a a required equipment upgrade in 1982, Shaquille O'Neal dunked so hard that he still broke the rims off its supports.
xVGG7 TIL after WWII ended, Jewish people were forced to live for months in their concentration camps, in their camp uniforms and poorly insulated buildings, leading a US representative to conclude: "We appear to be treating the Jews as the Nazis treated them except that we do not exterminate them."
negdP TIL that in 1162 in revenge for insulting his wife, The Holy Roman Emperor forced every resident of Milan who wished to live to pluck a fig placed into the genitals of a female mule.
N5xP TIL In 1904, tea bags were invented accidentally. The inventor, Thomas Sullivan, decided that it was cheaper to send small samples to potential customers in silk bags instead of boxes. The recipients believed they were meant to be dunked and soon Sullivan was flooded with orders for his “tea bags”.
x6o01 TIL of "set de flo'", an old African-American type of dance contest in which participants would do specific dance moves inside a circle on the floor; if you step outside the circle, you lose. Sometimes they would balance a glass of water on their head for extra challenge.