› added 12 years ago

218

TIL Between 60-70% of the French prison population is Muslim.

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neQV9 TIL It would take 375,000 Lego bricks stacked one on top of another to destroy the bottom brick. The tower would be nearly 12,000 feet tall.
P4Eg TIL that in 1269, the election of the Pope took so long (3 years) that the city where the conclave was held, Viterbo, refused to send in anything except bread and water. When even this failed to elect a Pope, villagers removed the roof of the palace hosting the cardinals to speed up the election.
l7QVB TIL about the Triboelectric effect - the cause of static cling and a key mechanism in photocopiers and laser printers.
nWM49 TIL that the "breaking wheel" wasn't an elaborate medieval torture machine. They literally just beat you to death with a wagon wheel
6PaY TIL that King Zog I of Albania survived an estimated 55 assassination attempts. During one of these attempts on his life, he personally returned fire, and is noted as being the only modern leader to ever do so.