› added 10 months ago

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TIL actor Stephen Baldwin got ‘HM’ tattooed on his left shoulder for ‘Hannah Montana’. He had made a pact with then-teenage Miley Cyrus that he would be able to appear on the show if he got the tattoo. He did not go on to appear on the show and has since said he regrets getting it.

P1jeJ TIL Nazi Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop was a figure skater. In 1914, while living in Canada, he joined an Ottawa club and competed at the Ellis Memorial Cup in Boston.
Arl TIL that the computer term booting up comes from the phrase “Pulling yourself up by your bootstraps”. This is because, paradoxically, a computer cannot run without first loading software but some software must run before any software can be loaded.
vlVR TIL in December 2002 a 60-year-old mechanic was fined for failing to notify the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency that he’d removed his motorcycle from the road. He refused to pay and claimed that he had the right by medieval law to choose a trial by combat with a “champion” nominated by the DVLA
eOlD TIL there is controversy over whether Cinderella’s shoes are made of glass or of squirrel leather, the two words being homophones in French (vair/verre)
EgOQP TIL the first recorded worldwide manhunt began in 1695 when Englishman Henry Every, "The King of the Pirates", perpetrated the single most profitable act of piracy in history, netting the equivalent of £97m ($118m USD). He disappeared without trace the next year and his treasure was never recovered.