› added 4 years ago

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TIL the British could have stopped Hitler in 1938 by refusing to sign the Munich Agreement. The German Army had a coup against the Nazis all set up and ready to go, but Chamberlain screwed up by allowing Hitler to take a chunk of Czechoslovakia without a fight.

78eG7 TIL in 1994, David Kang fired two blank shots from a starting pistol at Prince Charles during an Australia Day speech. He was found guilty of threatening unlawful violence and sentenced to 500 hours of community service. In 2004, he was admitted to the NSW Bar and is a practising barrister.
LPLp TIL In the mid 1920’s the US Department of Prohibition ordered the poisoning of industrial alcohols, products regularly stolen and resold as drinkable spirits. They did this to scare people out of drinking and to track where speakeasies were located. The program killed an estimated 10,000 people.
9YR5G TIL that, before becoming an actor, Joe Pesci (under the name "Joe Ritchie") recorded an album called "Little Joe Sure Can Sing!", where he covered various popular songs
1aoZr TIL about Henry VIII's "eavesdrop" figures: he has creepy statues built onto ceiling beams to warn against gossip or dissension and foster paranoia
oRkyE TIL The newly independent nation of Zambia launched a space program in the 1960's. 13 people were chosen for space training which included tasks like swinging on a swing and rolling down a hill inside an oil drum. The program ended when the only female trainee got pregnant by another trainee