› added 8 years ago

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TIL: Charles Guiteau, the assassin of President James A. Garfield, chose a .442 caliber British Bulldog revolver with an ivory handle because he thought it would look good in a museum exhibit after the assassination. The revolver has since been lost and its whereabouts are unknown.

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Jao1 TIL Twinkies (Hostess) was bought by Metropoulos and the original Twinkie will be back on the shelves by the middle of July.
gW6W TIL that the initial probability of getting shot in the first round in Russian Roulette is not 1 in 6 , since the weight of the bullet makes the spinning cylinder more likely to stop with the bullet at the bottom.
wLWp8 TIL that the classic movie portrayal of a crowded asteroid belt where the asteroids are only metres apart is inaccurate. In reality the average distance between asteroids is around 965,000 km (600,000 miles) and if you were to fly through it, a collision would be unlikely.
VBnLD TIL not all rectangular national flags have the same proportions. Belgium (13:15), Niger (6:7) and Denmark (28:37) are almost a square. Paraguay (11:20), America (10:19) and Qatar (11:28) are flatter bois. El Salvador is a 189:335 and Togo is a 1:φ.
4kXbN TIL in 2017, a Pittsburgh restaurant hosted an event with French-Canadian chefs serving horse tartare. The event sparked public outrage, USDA investigation, and a petition to ban horse meat in Pennsylvania. Horse meat is a delicacy and staple throughout much of French-Canada, Europe, and Asia.