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TIL that King Henry VIII disliked ponies. In the Breed of Horses Act of 1540, he ordered that any stallions shorter than 15 hands high, mares shorter than 13 hands high, and 2-year-old colts under 11.2 hands high were to be killed. Private owners were also forced to kill all of their shorter ponies.

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e6yE TIL that the czech secret police used fake border posts to convince refugees they successfully fled the country. Afterwards they were interviewed by fake US personal to find out who else wanted to flee. A lot of refugees were talked into leaving the country by agent provocateurs to begin with
lo8xr TIL Hawaii has nearly one tourist die each week while engaged in common vacation activities like swimming, snorkeling, hiking and going on scenic drives
4kg TIL that Tesla said that if you stick a rod far enough into space the temperature difference would create an electrical current and a motor could be run off it and that this (while not doing any work itself) did not violate the second law of thermodynamics.
awy1L TIL In 1974, U.S. Senator William Scott (R-Va) was named the Dumbest Member of Congress by a small fringe publication. He called a press conference to deny it, which gave the accusation nationwide circulation.
xg0b TIL that Patrick Stewart signed a 6-year contract for “Star Trek: The Next Generation” because he, his agent, and others with whom Stewart consulted all believed that the new TV show would quickly fail, and he would return to his Shakespearean career after making some money.