› added 10 years ago

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TIL of Félix Carbajal, a Cuban Olympic marathon runner in 1904, who ran in cut-off trousers, a long-sleeve shirt and a beret. He stopped to eat some apples, got stomach cramps, had a nap, then kept running, to place fourth. The winner, Thomas Hicks, used brandy and rat poison to assist his victory.

5YYaD TIL that despite being surprised by a 30,000 man army during the Mongols third invasion of Poland, the Polish were able to repel the Mongols and inflict heavy casualties
XpQ8 TIL before antibiotics, patients with syphilis were sometimes purposefully infected with malaria. This was because the bacteria that causes syphilis doesn’t fare well at higher temperatures (a blistering fever is a side effect of malaria).
ZZ5R TIL Tootsie Roll has no idea where the rumor about free suckers for wrappers with indians/stars on them came from, and simply returns redemption letters with a let down note
p8jVe TIL The longest pro baseball game ever was a AAA game that took 33 innings, took 8 1/2 hours to complete, had future Hall of Famers Wade Boggs and Cal Ripken Jr. playing, set 12 records, and had the final inning resumed months later to much fanfare only to end after 18 minutes.
kOa4B TIL in 2001 a Nova Scotia man was barred from a hotel after leaving a window open in his room allowing seagulls to enter; drawn by the intoxicating smell of pepperoni. The room was destroyed. His ban was lifted in 2018 after a heartfelt plea to hotel management.