› added 2 years ago

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TIL exactly what it means to be “Hanged, drawn and quartered”: “…fastened to a hurdle, or wooden panel, and drawn by horse to the place of execution, where he was then hanged (almost to the point of death), emasculated, disembowelled, beheaded, and quartered (chopped into four pieces).”

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v18eL TIL the pistols used in the Hamilton v Burr duel (owned by Hamilton) were not equal. One was modified with a hair trigger, allowing one to shoot faster, with less pull.
woAP7 TIL about Charles Dickens’ son Frank, who joined the predecessors of Canada’s iconic Mounties after failing the British Foreign Office exams, losing his officer’s commission in the Bengal Mounted Police, and “squandering his inheritance on poor investments and disssipated living."
BJvy TIL there is a sponge under Antarctica that scientists believe to be over 10,000 years old, making it the longest living organic creature known to man
4Xyob TIL in 1970 Nike offered Spencer Haywood either $100,000 or 10 percent of the company in exchange for promoting the company’s shoes. He chose the 100k over the stock that would be worth $8.6 billion today
8ewnK TIL that the British used to dock decommissioned ships in the harbor and use them as prisons. More Americans died on these ships during the American Revolution than in every battle of the war combined.