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TIL that the official cause of Houdini's death on Halloween in 1926 was diffuse peritonitis; this is the result of a burst appendix. J. Gordon Whitehead's sucker punch did not cause his death because Houdini died 6 days later after the punch, and it was caused from a bacterial infection.

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p8aVQ TIL after a Japanese Destroyer rammed the ship Naval Lieutenant John F. Kennedy was on during WW2, Kennedy swam for 5 hours towards an island while towing one of his badly burned crewman by clasping a scrap of the crewman's lifejacket between his teeth despite sustaining a back injury from the crash
4LdJ TIL George Carlin is the Only Comedian in U.S. History to Have A Supreme Court Case Heard About One of His Routines
4XyZg TIL that at Ford's Theatre a portrait of George Washington is hung on the box where President Abraham Lincoln was shot. At the time, there was no official presidential seal or symbol, so owner John T. Ford hung the portrait there, as a symbol of the office.
kOE9B TIL the Byzantine Emperor Basi II, or Basi the Bulgar Slayer, after the Battle of Kleidion, put captured Bulgarians into groups of one-hundred, and left ninety-nine of each group blind. The latter of whom was captured and left with only one eye, and had to lead the blind group back home.
rR1Zd TIL that Danes are allowed to hit with a stick any swedes that try to cross the Øresund strait when the strait is frozen over