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TIL that Paris’ executioner from 1840-1847 hated his job and developed expensive vices to cope with it. To earn more money, he would charge people to watch him guillotine a sheep; he later pawned the guillotine and planned to switch to an axe. The government bought the guillotine back and fired him.

v1wpj TIL Haggis was banned from being imported into the United States due to the content being 10-15% sheep’s lung.
nWkw9 TIL a long-lost model of an X-Wing starfighter that was used in the climactic battle scene of Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope sold for $3.1 million last year to become the most expensive Star Wars screen-used prop sold at auction. It's 1 of 4 known "hero" models that were made for closeup shots.
KOMwQ TIL East Germans defected by various ways like digging long tunnels under the Berlin Wall, waiting for favorable winds and taking hot air balloons, sliding along aerial wires, flying ultralight aircraft and, in one case, driving a sports car at full speed through the basic, initial fortifications.
YpBpx TIL Morton's fork is a type of false dilemma in which contradictory observations lead to the same conclusion. Asserting that a person suspected of a crime who is acting nervously must have something to hide, while a person who acts calmly and confidently must be skilled at hiding something.
78OQx TIL the next periodical emergence of the 13- and 17-year cicada broods is 2024. The last time these insects co-emerged was 221 years ago while Thomas Jefferson was president.