› added 11 years ago

97

TIL emperor Elagabalus was married as many as five times, lavished favors on male courtiers popularly thought to have been his lovers, employed a prototype of whoopee cushions at dinner parties, and was reported to have prostituted himself in the imperial palace.

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lvDG TIL in the Korean war US officer Dave Teich disobeyed orders and took 4 tanks to save 65 men from 300k Chinese troops attacking their position.
D1RMp TIL The widowhood effect is the increase in the probability of a person dying a relatively short time after their long-time spouse has died. The pattern indicates a sharp increase in risk of death for the widower, particularly, in the three months closest thereafter the death of the spouse.
O5VR TIL a young Charlie Wilson’s dog was killed by a next door neighbor who was running for city council by mixing crushed glass into the dog’s food. Charlie Wilson retaliated by driving 96 poor black voters to the polls ultimately causing his neighbor to lose the election.
4XpWJ TIL that the idea of wooden stakes to kill vampires actually came from the use of wooden stakes to pin the dead down so they couldn’t escape the coffin. A measure taken during the New England vampire panic among other places. Though staked in the chest it had nothing to do with piercing the heart.
69rZJ TIL that Ozzy Osbourne released "Under Cover" in 2005, on which he covered songs by artists such as The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Buffalo Springfield, and Cream. It was his only such studio album, though he did perform Black Sabbath songs on the live album "Speak of the Devil."