› added 7 years ago

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TIL at George Washington's 1787 farewell party, 56 people drank 60 bottles of claret, 54 bottles of Madeira, 8 bottles of hard cider, 8 bottles of whiskey, 22 bottles of porter, and 7 large bowls of alcoholic punch; the bar tab cost $15 000 in today's money.

kJY8B TIL an Iowa Supermarket employee went missing in 2009 while at work, only to have his decomposed body discovered in a gap between a freezer and a wall 10 years later in 2019.
leLK TIL that in 1985, police engaged in a standoff with the black liberation group ‘MOVE’ at their home in Philadelphia. A massive firefight ensued in which the police used choppers to drop two C4 bombs on the roof. The fire destroyed 65 houses and 11 people died.
rRxPy TIL in 1963, George Blonsky patented a table that used centrifugal force to assist in childbirth. The expectant mother would be strapped down and spun at high speed, and the baby caught in a net.
95dB TIL there have been an estimated 638 attempts to assassinate Fidel Castro by the United States, including poisoned cigars, infected scuba equipment, a pen rigged with a hypodermic needle containing poison, etc. He stated “if surviving assassination attempts was an Olympic event, I’d win gold”
VBRB8 TIL about Hague Invasion Act, passed in 2002 giving president power to use "all means necessary and appropriate to bring about the release of any U.S. or allied personnel being detained or imprisoned by, on behalf of, or at the request of the International Criminal Court".