› added 12 years ago

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TIL In 2001 Kim ‘Dotcom’ purchased €375,000 of shares of a nearly bankrupt company, announced he would invest €50 million in the company, and caused the share value to jump nearly 300% . He sold his shares a few days later for €1,568,000. He’d never had the money available to invest.

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4X116 TIL after conquering China, by 1241 the Mongols were expanding their empire to the west, using Chinese rockets (self-propelled flying bombs) in battles across Eastern Europe. And with them came secret of black powder - the recipe was first written down around 1250 by English scholar Roger Bacon.
oRZWo TIL that "Gropecunt Lane" was a common street name in English towns and cities during the Middle Ages used to refer to streets where prostitution was practised
XEPoD TIL about George and Otto, a ventriloquist act. After performing at the Adult Video Awards ceremony, they were asked not to come back, their act was too offensive. One of the first George dummies was destroyed after it got into an argument which led to the puppet being attacked with a knife.
MeWmB TIL until the Anatomy Act of 1832 (UK) there weren't enough corpses for medical schools and body snatching proliferated to a point grieving families had to guard graves after burial. Robbers didn't steal jewelry/clothes as that was a felony punishable by death/transportation; a body was only a fine.
woV1o TIL of Alice Nutter, an English woman who was hanged after a 9 year old accused her of being a witch