› added 9 years ago

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TIL that the last Democrat elected to replace another Democrat as president was James Buchanan, in 1856.

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4kyJR TIL about the experiment to find the world's funniest (most average) joke with the widest appeal. Richard Wiseman created LaughLab, an online experiment for people to submit and rate jokes. Gurpal Gosal of Manchester submitted the winning joke based on a 1951 radio skit written by Spike Milligan.
BgmOk TIL that in AD 70, Roman emperor Vespasian levied a tax on urine and sent agents to public urinals to collect it. When his son (who opposed the tax), asked him whether the coins he collected this way smelled bad, he famously replied "money does not stink".
w17W TIL In March 2001, while Rowan Atkinson was on a holiday trip to Kenya, the pilot of his private plane fainted. Atkinson managed to maintain the plane in the air until the pilot recovered, and was able to land the plane at Nairobi’s Wilson Airport.
grp8 TIL that the drummer for The Police, Stewart Copeland, also composed the score for the original Spyro-games.
ram4 TIL El Duce, member of shock-rock band the Mentors, passed a polygraph test after telling sources Courtney Love offered him money to kill Kurt Cobain. Later, he claimed to know who committed the murder; he was found dead two days later. (More links inside)