› added 10 years ago

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TIL in 1985 US Marshalls Service once sent “invitations” to the last known addresses of 5000 known fugitives saying they had won free tickets to a Redskins - Bengals game. When the “winners” arrived to pick up their tickets they were arrested by Deputy Marshals and DC Metropolitan Police officers.

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via reddit.com

NXPRe TIL the streets of Ancient Rome were filled with jars that Roman men were free to use to relieve themselves. The jars were collected by fullers, who aged the urine and used it to launder clothes. The trade was so lucrative that Emperor Vespasian taxed the urine they collected.
DZgg Til that a dental assistant attempted suicide by intravenously injecting 135 grams of mercury. She survived, and and suffered none of the renal, gastrointestinal, or neurologic effects that can result from the oxidation of mercury in the blood and consequent exposure of these organ systems.
kjxe TIL that during WWII A. Wald proposed the seemingly illogical idea of reinforcing the undamaged areas of US bomber and not the damaged areas. The holes represented areas where a bomber could take hits and still return home whereas the areas untouched, if hit, would cause the plane to be lost.
N5y1 TIL there is an alternate full length Anchorman movie called “Wake Up Ron Burgundy: The Lost Movie” made up of scenes that didn’t make the final cut.
4evg TIL a judge dismissed animal-cruelty charges against a police officer accused of sticking his penis into the mouths of five calves in 2006, claiming a grand jury couldn’t infer whether the cows had been “tormented” or “puzzled” by the situation or even irritated that they’d been duped out of a meal.