› added 7 years ago

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TIL that a day before 9/11, George Carlin recorded a live show for a album that was titled ‘I Kinda Like It When a Lotta People Die" which was shelved due to the events of the next day. The title was later planned to be re-used for a special in 2004, but was again discarded due to Hurricane Katrina.

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N7dEQ TIL a predominant cause of jet lag is the lack of available oxygen in airplane cabins. Airlines only pressurize cabins to levels equivalent to 8000 ft. above sea level to extend the lifespan of the plane.
QNLbX TIL about how scientists taught monkeys the concept of money. Not long after, the first prostitute monkey appeared.
6Elb8 TIL After the American Revolution, British peace commissioners were so humiliated by having to negotiate with colonials, that they refused to sit for a group portrait intended to commemorate the event. So there is just blank space on the right of the painting where they were to have been seated
wDJ8 TIL British PM Gordon Brown hand-wrote a letter of condolence to a mother whose son had died in Afghanistan where he misspelled the deceased’s surname. The Sun published a vitriolic article criticising his lack of care but misspelled the same name and was forced to publish an apology of its own
QJKwk TIL when China leased to Britain the New Territories of Hong Kong in 1898, British diplomat Claude MacDonald secured a 99-year lease only because he thought 'it was good as forever'. Britain did not think they would ever have to give the territories back.