› added 10 years ago

92

TIL in the 16th century, Ishikawa Goemon was sentenced to death by being boiled alive in an iron cauldron along with his very young son, but was able to save his son by holding him above his head. His son was then forgiven

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

mxjXO TIL while Benjamin Franklin was in Paris during the American Revolution, his secretary was a British spy. The spy used the cover of weekly letters about “gallantry” (exploits with women). He would write in-between the lines in a special ink and leave the letter in a dead drop every Tuesday night.
5YZLr TIL: The Guinness book of records was invented by the Guinness beer folks. They figured a book of verifiable facts would help stop bar arguments.
p8Bxp TIL that Daryl Davis, a black musician, is credited with dismantling the entire KKK network in Maryland. He did this by befriending many members, even going so far as to serve as a pallbearer at a Klansman's funeral.
XEnM6 TIL that Alaska is not only the most northern and western state in the US, but also the most eastern state due to the fact that the Aleutian Islands cross the 180° longitude line
V5R8 TIL that in 2013, California shut down an elder care facility but didn’t relocate the residents before the owners stopped operations. The janitor and cook stayed behind, unpaid, to give around-the-clock care to 16 patients for two days.