› added 9 years ago

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TIL After a miscarriage in 1726, a woman named Mary Toft began placing rabbits inside her vagina claiming that when they exited her she had given birth to a monster. 17 such “monsters” were “born”. The discovery of her fraud ruined the careers of several prominent surgeons who believed her. [NSFW]

QbJL TIL that in 1372, the architect Yi Kaizhan was hired to build a fort along the Great Wall of China, and he ordered the exact number of bricks he needed. When his judgement was questioned, he ordered one more brick. The extra brick was never used.
P17Dn TIL that the planet's average temperature compared to today was just 6°C (11°F) lower, during the last ice age, and 4°C (7°F) higher, during the age of the dinosaurs. "In climate terms, a change of just a few degrees is a big deal." (Bill Gates, 2021)
168m7 TIL the most films seen in a cinema in a single year is 777 by Zachariah Swope. He started with Minions: Rise of Gru in July 2022 and finished with Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny in June 2023.
0Bwy TIL in 1977 Billy Joel’s poorly-performing single “Only the Good Die Young” was banned by WSOU-FM, affiliated with Seton Hall University, for its supposed anti-Catholic themes. Other dioceses then started putting pressure on local stations to ban it. As a result of the controversy, sales skyrocketed
bjVZ TIL 903 miles from Benghazi under President Ronald Reagan in 1983, numerous warnings were ignored in the Shiite truck bombing that killed 220 US Marines in Beirut. The lead sentry had no bullets in his gun.