› added 6 years ago

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TIL Dan White, killer of Harvey Milk and the mayor of San Francisco, was charged with Voluntary Manslaughter rather than murder. The Defense had argued that White's mental state was impaired by depression, as proven by him recently eating sugary foods. This became known as the "Twinkie Defense."

nGvo TIL Tom Delonge of Blink-182 is a firm believer in extraterrestrial life and once had his phone tapped by the government for coming into possession of 36 hours of Congressional testimonial footage of NASA’s secret space program.
ANRj7 TIL that the largest building in the state of Kentucky is a 4-million sq ft cavern underground. The former limestone mine, called "Mega Cavern," meets the definition of a building due to its support structures. Multiple attractions inside are open to the public year-round.
lomkK TIL after the Battle of Marathon in 490 BCE, an Athenian soldier named Epizelus lost his sight after his comrade next to him was killed despite not having any injuries himself, suggesting he suffered from hysterical blindness due to PTSD.
jNJbn TIL 20th Century Fox, convinced that Star Wars was going to flop, agreed to George Lucas’s proposition to forgo an additional $500K directing fee in return to keep licensing and merchandising rights for himself. This decision cost Fox billions and made George Lucas a Billionaire.
neOpW TIL that afternoon tea was introduced by Anna Maria, Duchess of Bedford in the 19th century. It was common those days to have only two meals, breakfast and dinner. After complaining of a “sinking feeling” around 4pm, Anna started ordering a tray of tea, bread and butter, and cake to her room.