› added 8 years ago

100

TIL the Ibrahim Prize, an annual award given to former African heads of states who have advanced democracy and peacefully transitioned power gifts $5,000,000 plus and additional $200,000 a year after that. It has only been awarded three times since 2008.

Read more wikipedia.org

via ift.tt

vPbA8 TIL The 1984 UK parliamentary by election in Chesterfield was contested by 17 parties as diverse as the acne party, the Elvisly yours party, the I am not a number party, the Welshman party, the monster raving looney party and the reclassify the Sun newspaper as a comic party.
5YMN8 TIL in 1968, a student at UPenn announced that a dog would be burned alive with napalm. Thousands turned up to protest, were handed a leaflet reading: Congratulations on your anti-napalm protest. You saved the life of a dog. Now, how about saving the lives of tens of thousands of people in Vietnam.
Z6Q TIL Adding sage to your campfire is a natural way to keep bugs away.
wLnKM TIL two men dressed as Batman and Captain America were teaching kids at an event when they noticed a nearby home on fire. They ran to the house, rushed inside, and rescued a cat that had inhaled smoke. "Batman" gave the cat mouth-to-mouth breaths until it recovered, then it hissed and "freaked out."
VDOk TIL when the Soviet Union was pushing towards Berlin, an SS soldier was forced to play a piano for his captors. They made it clear in sign language that he would be executed the moment he stopped. He played for 22 hours, after which he collapsed in tears. They congratulated him, then shot him.