› added 10 years ago

82

TIL that Julius Caesar was kidnapped by pirates, mocked his captors until his ransom was paid, then came back with a fleet to kill them all

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71vb TIL when black death (bubonic plague) spread across Europe in the 1300’s, 60% of Florence, Italy’s population died within just a few months.
5YPaB TIL Carl Sagan's team wanted to include the Beatles song "Here Comes the Sun" on the Voyager Golden Records (discs containing greetings in 60 languages, music and sounds from Earth aboard both Voyager spacecraft launched in 1977), but the record company EMI, which held the copyrights, declined.
EgZO7 TIL that singer Cat Stevens converted to Islam in 1977, after his brother, a convert to Judaism, brought him a copy of the Qur'an as a gift from a trip to Jerusalem.
M7EE8 TIL of Abu Zubaydah, a detainee of Guantanamo Bay for over 20 years. He has never been charged and has been tortured, including being waterboarded 83 times in one month
PYO6e TIL that the story of Jack and the Beanstalk is believed to be over 5,000 years old. Rumpelstiltskin and Beauty and the Beast are thought to be around 4,000 years old.