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TIL in 1902 a man named Ludger Sylbaris survived a volcanic eruption that killed 30,000 people because he was drunk and arrested the night before. Held in a windowless cell he stopped the superheated shockwave from vaporizing the air inside by peeing on his clothes and stuffing them in the door slit

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R5gd9 TIL of the Ancient Greek politician Hyperbolus, who put forward a motion for ostracism (exile) in an attempt to have one of the two more popular politicians ostracized. Instead, the two factions put aside their differences and voted to ostracize Hyperbolus. He was the last Athenian to be ostracized.
YJAB TIL prostitutes in Chicago are more likely to have sex with a police officer than be arrested by one.
0doAR TIL That BT Research (AKA BT Labs), the research division of British Telecom had over 10,000 patents by around the year 2000. Including ones for Prestel the forerunner of the Internet in 1979.
yJ08 TIL in 1985 US Marshalls Service once sent “invitations” to the last known addresses of 5000 known fugitives saying they had won free tickets to a Redskins - Bengals game. When the “winners” arrived to pick up their tickets they were arrested by Deputy Marshals and DC Metropolitan Police officers.
R7WJa TIL the reef stonefish (Synanceia verrucosa) is not only a master predator but one of the most venomous fish in the world, even lethal to humans. Its appearance is that of a crusty rock affording the fish uncanny camouflage. Each of its 13 dorsal spines has two venom sacs containing 3 deadly toxins.