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TIL about the 1886 short story “How the Mail Steamer Went Down in Mid Atlantic by a Survivor”, which served as a cautionary tale about the dangers of ships having too few lifeboats. Its author, William Thomas Stead, later died during the Titanic sinking in 1912.

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p8kxQ TIL of Gan Ying, a Chinese envoy who in 97 AD was sent on a diplomatic mission to Rome. He would turn around in Mesopotamia, discouraged by sailors who gave him a lengthy estimate on a sea voyage. Unknown to him Parthia shared a land border with Rome, which was only a months travel away from him.
LxmV TIL in 2004 van Gogh’s great-grandnephew, Theo, was murdered for making a film about violence against women in Islam. He was shot more than 8 times, cut in the throat to decapitate him, stabbed in the chest and stabbed with another knife attaching a note that threatened Western countries & Jews.
nerr9 TIL that Eddie Tipton, an information-security director for the lottery, rigged the random number generator system and was able to tell what numbers would be drawn. He won jackpots for many friends and family members over several years and wasn't caught until he bought a lottery ticket worth $16.5m.
jNxZM TIL when he was 16 Christopher Walken worked as a lion tamer in the circus. He would often perform with a lioness named Sheba.
0dP6p Today I learned that Stephen Duncan, the largest slaveholder during the civil war (and second overall in US History) was actually pro-unionist and was ostracized by the confederates he lived with in Mississippi