› added 11 years ago

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TIL that there was a planned, but unmade episode of Doctor Who in which an alien would attach itself to JK Rowling and project her imagination on the real world. The Doctor would have battled wizards and witches to save the planet.

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16aBW TIL that asteroids 1227 through 1234 were named to spell out "G. Stracke" to honor the German astronomer Gustav Stracke who had requested not to have a planet named after him.
yVLkv TIL that getting water from a war zone (the DMZ) is approved by the South Korean military.
Yn8r TIL there is a gang of Serbian thieves named The Pink Panthers who have pulled off Mission Impossible styled heists netting over EUR 300 Million in jewels. Their leader, Dragan Mikic, escaped prison by scaling a wall while the Pink Panthers shot at guards with machine guns
69E8W TIL that in April of 1861, Former President Franklin Pierce wrote to the other living former presidents and asked them to consider meeting to use their stature and influence to propose a negotiated end to the war. However, this idea was ultimately never acted on.
Kmaw TIL Pope Benedict XVI announced his resignation in Latin. The Vatican reporter who broke the story was the only one in the room who could actually understand the announcement.