› added 8 years ago

80

TIL That in 1860 an Anglo-French expedition force burned and sacked the Old Summer Palace in China, it covered an area of 3.5 square kilometres (860 acres), almost five times the size of the Forbidden City grounds and eight times the size of the Vatican City.

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69YK7 TIL about Thomas Scot Halpin, a fan of UK band The Who, who during a 1973 Quadrophenia tour concert volunteered to fill in for the remainder of the set after drummer Keith Moon had passed out from drugs and alcohol.
ZpyoY TIL radioactive powder from a stolen radiotherapy unit was spread throughout a town in Brazil in 1987 as people were fascinated by its blue glow. They spread the dust in their homes showing it to family and friends, a 6 year old girl ingested some of it. 112,000 people were tested for contamination.
wLQDE TIL that musician Moby claimed in his second memoir to have been in a relationship with actress Natalie Portman when she was 18. Portman denied it, saying “my recollection is a much older man being creepy with me when I just had graduated high school.” Moby canceled his book tour and apologized.
R7kk9 TIL A 3M tape plant accidentally created a force field of static electricity that was strong enough to prevent humans from passing through. A person near this "wall" was unable to turn, and so had to walk backwards to retreat from it.
8a8e8 TIL that after the murder of civil rights activist Medgar Evers in 1963, his alleged murderer was tried by an all-white jury who deadlocked twice and failed to convict. In 1994, Evers was discovered to be so well embalmed that forensic autopsy was still possible, leading to his murderers conviction.