› added 7 years ago

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TIL of Jean Meslier, who was a French Catholic priest, who was discovered, upon his death, to have written a book-length philosophical essay promoting atheism. From Meslier, Diderot is said to have derived the quote "And with the guts of the last priest let's strangle the neck of the last king".

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OGYD1 TIL that in 1996, Dallas business man John Spano bought controlling ownership of the NHLs New York Islanders for $165 million dollars. After nearly a year it came to light he didn’t have nearly enough funds to complete his purchase of his team.
0waw5 TIL a 'barrel' of crude oil is not today's standard 200L/55G barrel of commerce, but was originally the 40 gallon whiskey barrel before settling on, in 1866, the 42 gallon (159L) wine tierce established by English King Richard III in 1485, which we still use today
E1VO7 TIL that black rhinos are very close to extinction due to habitat loss and illegal poaching. Today, only about 5,500 black rhinos are alive in the wild.
b7Aa TIL that naked mole rats are practically superheroes - they don’t get cancer, their noses and mouths are unaffected by acid, they live 6x longer than other rodents, they hardly age, they can survive long periods of oxygen deprivation and can live in areas with severe heavy metal pollution.
69RWQ TIL that no Danish monarch has been coronated since 1849