› added 3 years ago

5483

TIL that in 2019, a saxophonist was hired to compose a song for the critically endangered New Zealand bird, the Kakapo, in order to put them in a romantic mood for mating. It seems to have worked as 249 eggs were laid and 76 hatched during the breeding season.

W7wZd TIL of the 5 known assassination attempts on Queen Elizabeth II, the one that came closest to succeeding was attempted by a 17-year-old New Zealander, who shot at her with a .22 calibre rifle, but missed so badly that nobody even realised shots were fired.
p8dpb TIL that after Hurricane Katrina, prisoners who couldn‘t move back to their destroyed neighbourhoods after finishing their sentence were significantly less likely to be reincarcerated afterwards
78ZwO TIL in 1951, 600 British soldiers were getting overwhelmed by 30,000 Chinese soldiers. Brig Tom Brodie told his American Superior "Things are a bit sticky, sir." Because of the understatement, the General assumed they were holding up and sent no help. Almost all the soldiers were captured or killed.
l75pA TIL that there is a semi-official conservative sequel/ prequel to the 1969 classic film "Easy Rider" titled "Easy Rider: The Ride Back". It is semi-official because although none of the original cast or crew were involved, the director, Phil Pitzer, legally purchased the Easy Rider ip.
XeOR TIL the current King of Sweden is Karl XVI despite only being the 10th king of that name; in 1604, Karl IX (actually the third) picked his regnal number based on a completely fictitious history of Sweden, and the mistake stuck.