› added 8 years ago

950

TIL in 1906 the Bronx Zoo exhibited a Congolese pygmy man named Ota Benga in its Monkey House where he slept in a hammock and shot a bow and arrow at a target. Yesterday was the 100th anniversary of his suicide.

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GYNyG TIL Andy Dick gave Phil Hartman's wife cocaine at a Christmas party, causing her to relapse. Five months later, she killed Hartman in a cocaine-fueled rage.
ewME TIL Charles Drew, the inventor of the “blood bank” and pioneer of successful blood transfusions, died during a failed blood transfusion after a car accident
KO004 TIL that Roman Emperor Nero competed in the Olympics in 67 AD. He was allowed to enter the four horse chariot race with ten horses. He fell mid-race, did not finish, yet was still declared the winner.
Q8l6 TIL that in 1860 an 11-year old girl wrote to Presidential Nominee Abraham Lincoln, urging him to grow a beard, as “..ladies like whiskers and they would tease their husbands to vote for [you] and then [you] would be President.” Lincoln not only wrote back, but had a full beard by his Inauguration.
nel99 TIL that pepper spray is banned from being used in war since it is considered a chemical weapon but is generally allowed as a riot control agent.