› added 8 years ago

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TIL The UK has 4 nuclear submarines as a nuclear deterrent, each has an identical “letter of last resort”. These letters contain orders from the current PM should the government collapse due to nuclear attack. The PM has only four options to choose and they’re destroyed unopened upon a new PM.

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LMk9 TIL that just before boarding the vessel that he was attacking, Blackbeard would take slow burning fuse matches and, with bright red ribbon, tie them in his hair and beard. When lit, these smoking matches gave him the appearance of the Devil.
XE90E TIL the only remake to win an Oscar for best picture is 'The Departed'
yy6w TIL that it was an ancient custom in Japan for literate persons to compose a poem as they lay dying. The custom has continued into modern Japan.
ZpZJY TIL about Japan Air Lines food poisoning incident. In-flight meal contaminated with a bacteria made 195 passengers and a flight attendant sick. 144 so serious they need to be hospitalized, 30 critical. JAL Catering Manager later committed suicide over the incident. He was the only fatal victim.
dDYm7 TIL in 1508, Barthélemy de Chasseneuz made his reputation as a criminal lawyer by his eloquent defense of a group of rats who were put on trial for destroying the barley crop of the province.