› added 1 year ago

89

TIL that Nobuo Oda is the longest serving death row inmate in Japan. He was sentenced to death in 1968 for killing a man during a robbery in 1966. While Oda has admitted to robbery, he has denied starting the fire with a stove. He is currently a prisoner in the Fukuoka Detention House.

Read more mainichi.jp

via reddit.com

XmxR TIL The US Government has rigorous specs for the pens it buys. assembled by blind people, the pens must be able to write for a mile and in temps 160F to -40, are designed to fit undetected into uniforms, can stand in for a two inch fuse, and be used for an emergency tracheotomy
xd7b TIL a Canadian province had a “Sexual Sterilization Act” from 1928-1972. Almost 3000 sterilizations were performed on minorities and women who were deemed “mentally defective.” In 1995 a sterilized women was awarded almost $1 million for her humiliation at being wrongfully labeled as a moron.
gMZXL TIL that Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture is considered the first "diss track", as well as being the first recorded use of firearms in a piece of music. These both stem from the cannons at the song's climax, which were representative of the Napoleonic Army's own cannons being turned against them.
QJB0e TIL In the 2002 movie "The Time Machine", by 2030, people have established a large Moon base, and ads are touting lunar resorts, which will be created by detonating 20-megaton hydrogen bombs to create huge spherical caverns
Oorw6 TIL about Basil "The Owl" Banghart, a criminal who escaped federal custody by pretending to be a federal agent who was overpowered by his prisoner, Basil Banghart.