› added 7 years ago

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TIL in 1987, in Brazil, a ship carrying 22tons of weed in 3lb cans dumped all of it in the sea after being chased by Brazilian authorities. The cans were carried to the coastline by the tides, and most ended up being found (and used) by locals. This event came to be known as "The Summer of the Cans"

P4gZ TIL a young Richard Branson had his flight to the Virgin Islands cancelled, so he chartered a private airplane. Not having enough money to do so, he picked up a small blackboard, wrote “Virgin Airlines $29” on it, sold tickets for the rest of the seats, and used that money to pay for the ride.
4kl16 TIL after the Crimean War, Queen Victoria praised soldiers’ facial hair as the mark of "real fighting men". Mustaches became mandatory until 1916, mainly because gas masks required a proper seal, prompting the army to drop the almost 60 year old rule and made them optional.
ANxog TIL that in 1770, 14-year-old Mozart attended a Vatican performance of Allegri's Miserere, a choral piece so sacred its sheet music was kept secret under penalty of excommunication. He memorized it in one hearing, transcribed it, and helped bring it to the public.
yV558 TIL about James Jakob Williams: An African-American marine that - after fighting in the Second Barbary War (1815) - traveled to Greece where slavery had been abolished. There, he fought for the liberation of Greece from the Ottoman empire. He died in 1829: a free man, in a free Greece.
69LR7 TIL Most fans assume Imagine Dragons' 'Radioactive' is about a post apocalyptic world. But lyrics writer Dan Reynolds revealed in '21 it was actually about waking up in a new world after losing his faith in Mormonism.