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Time and progress, as we know it, work in mysterious ways. While most of us enjoy technological achievements in celluloid form à la "Barbenheimer," one of the oldest indigenous tribes in the world, the Yanomami, are fighting for their survival in the Amazon.

But this is just a mere example of the different timelines that happen at the same time, yet in different parts of the world. As u/Cuish, who asked the AskReddit community "What other things oddly existed at the same time?", noted, the last execution by guillotine in France occurred in 1977, the same year that George Lucas' Star Wars forever altered the course of sci-fi movies. Scroll down below and explore these intriguing random facts for yourself.

#1

40 Bits Of History That People Are Shocked To Learn Happened Simultaneously Orville Wright of the Wright brothers lived long enough to see Chuck Yaeger break the sound barrier and travel on an airliner that had a wingspan equal to the distance he covered in his first flight (37m) 

cruiserman_80 , Wikipedia Report

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Mysteria
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Lovely that he got to see how far his invention has come since the 1900s :)

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There are many different explanations for the perception of time, including Einstein's wildly popular "Time is relative", one of the pillars of modern physics, theory which claims that the rate at which time passes depends on your frame of reference. 

However, when we observe the occurrence of various significant historical events seemingly close to one another, it can be mind-boggling, considering the odds of such proximity. Can you believe that Harvard didn't have calculus classes when they just opened their doors? Unbelievable!

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#2

40 Bits Of History That People Are Shocked To Learn Happened Simultaneously Oxford University celebrated its 200th graduating class by the time the Aztec Empire started in Central America.

LambertonRegistry , Ben Seymour Report

The phenomenon of perceiving significant historical events clustered closely together, then, can trigger a cognitive dissonance that makes our minds reel. These events, though separated by vast stretches of time in reality, seem to converge in our minds, blurring the temporal boundaries. You know, reading about the events that happened in the span of 2,000 years whilst you've only been on Earth for only a few of Microsoft's Windows generations can be pretty mind-blowing. 

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#3

40 Bits Of History That People Are Shocked To Learn Happened Simultaneously My favourite that I've seen:

When Harvard opened, they didn't have calculus classes because *calculus hadn't been invented yet.*

DJBlok , Emily Karakis Report

#4

40 Bits Of History That People Are Shocked To Learn Happened Simultaneously The last mammoths lived at the time the pyramids were under construction.

Hopeful_Mecha_Angel , Andrés Dallimonti Report

#5

40 Bits Of History That People Are Shocked To Learn Happened Simultaneously I always found it strange that Victorian England and the Wild West happened at the same time.

Latvian_Pete , Abigail Keenan Report

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80 Van
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I actually have always associated these time periods together. I think there was enough literature from that time period (Around the World in 80 Days, A Study in Scarlett, etc.) that have portions both in England and in the US, that I always assumed they were concurrent periods.

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#6

Dmitri Shostakovich (major Russian composer who became huge in the 1920s) attended a performance of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Jesus Christ Superstar” in London, 1975. He actually loved it and watched it again the next day, claiming he wished he could’ve written something for a rock band.

guiporto32 Report

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#7

40 Bits Of History That People Are Shocked To Learn Happened Simultaneously I watched the first moon landing with a woman who’d been in Paris for Lindbergh’s first transcontinental flight landing.

Edit: wow this blew up! And my first award!! Trippy, thanks—and I owe it all to Mrs. B.

zestyspleen , NASA Report

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Barong
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I remember talking to my great grandmother who had been around to see the first flight, first cars, radio, television, computers, moon landing, the atomic bomb, the space shuttle, two world wars, and equal rights movements all in her lifetime. Amazing amount of changes in such a relatively short period of time.

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#8

40 Bits Of History That People Are Shocked To Learn Happened Simultaneously *Frozen* came out the same year Mississippi officially abolished slavery.

ItsGotThatBang , Disney Report

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scag$y
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I don't think they still had slavery in 2013, but it's probably like one of those crazy old laws that still exist in some places due to them being overlooked. Like you can't eat cheese whilst riding backwards on a Buffalo through the town square with six dwarves on a Thursday. Or something. But I'm not an expert.

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#9

40 Bits Of History That People Are Shocked To Learn Happened Simultaneously The last execution by guillotine occurred on September 10th, 1977.

The Atari 2600, the first successful home video game console, released the very next day. In a sense, the boundary separating the "era of guillotines" and the "era of video games" is less than 24 hours. It's basically a fine line with no overlap.

SleeplessShitposter , Paul Glazzard Report

#10

40 Bits Of History That People Are Shocked To Learn Happened Simultaneously Samurai, the fax machine, and Abraham Lincoln all existed at the same time

An-Ugly-Croissant17 , Ryunosuke Kikuno Report

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80 Van
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Obviously. How else do you think Abraham Lincoln was able to communicate with the Samurai?

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#11

Women in Switzerland got right to vote in 1971 when India was already having a woman prime minister !

sumidawasi Report

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Black Cat
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

And yet women's rights and safety is far better in Switzerland than in India.

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#12

40 Bits Of History That People Are Shocked To Learn Happened Simultaneously Nintendo was founded when Jack the Ripper was roaming the streets of London.

SublimeVibe , Alvaro Reyes Report

#13

40 Bits Of History That People Are Shocked To Learn Happened Simultaneously Dali designed the Chupa Chups lollipop logo.

botulizard , Mstroeck Report

#14

40 Bits Of History That People Are Shocked To Learn Happened Simultaneously Harriet Tubman was alive at the same time as both Thomas Jefferson and Ronald Reagan.

notasleannotasmean , Kirt Morris Report

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Sandy D
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I double checked. She was approximately 4 y/o when Jefferson dieɗ. She died the year after Reagan was born. Doesn't seem possible

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#16

People walked on the moon before we put wheels on a suitcase

Blythyvxr Report

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#17

40 Bits Of History That People Are Shocked To Learn Happened Simultaneously Something that oddly did NOT exist at the same time: Tyrannosaurus Rex is closer in time to humans than to a Stegosaurus.

Ts4EVER , Jon Butterworth Report

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David Paterson
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1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Here's one you may not know. Ducks, primates and T rex were exact contemporaries. All alive in the Maastrichtian era.

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#18

40 Bits Of History That People Are Shocked To Learn Happened Simultaneously Sharks are older than trees and Saturn’s rings.

jjc89 , Jonas Allert Report

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David Paterson
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Hold on a second. There is still a lot of debate about the age of Saturn's rings in astronomical circles. The observations of the Cassini spacecraft mission should have given us a firm answer, but didn't. The age is still uncertain by a factor of about 100.

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#19

Salvador Dali attended an Alice Cooper concert once

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#20

40 Bits Of History That People Are Shocked To Learn Happened Simultaneously The Qing Dynasty of China collapsed in 1912, the same year as the Titanic disaster.

TailsxCream4Eva , Clay Banks Report

#21

Bro, South African Apartheid ended the year that Jurassic Park came out. We were eating popcorn drooling over dinosaur puppets, while they were still fighting to use the same toilet as white people. Pitiful it took so long. Of course, hindsight tells us Apartheid started and ended with $$$ in mind. It was economic disparity that finally pushed for the end of said segregation...As it goes with much of the civil rights successes throughout the 20th century 😑

Concert-Turbulent Report

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xxx
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yep apartheid ended super recently in the grand scheme of things - 2 years before I was born and I am mid/late twenties. It only ended in 1994, how disgusting. SA was banned from FIFA and the Olympics while apartheid was happening, rightfully so, also banned from a lot of trade and many counties refused to do business with SA (as they should) hence the economic factor that finally brought an end it it.

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#22

40 Bits Of History That People Are Shocked To Learn Happened Simultaneously 2 empires, The Roman Empire and The Ottoman Empire, spanned the entire gap from Jesus to Babe Ruth.

Choice_Hold2805 , David Libeert Report

#23

Winston Churchill:

• rode in a cavalry charge

• commanded nuclear weapons

armsandhearts Report

#24

40 Bits Of History That People Are Shocked To Learn Happened Simultaneously William Shakespeare and Pocahontas were alive at the same time.

Dabrigstar , Taha Report

#25

40 Bits Of History That People Are Shocked To Learn Happened Simultaneously Prisoners began to arrive to Auschwitz a few days after McDonald's was founded.

delifte , Jurij Kenda Report

#26

40 Bits Of History That People Are Shocked To Learn Happened Simultaneously The last surviving witness to the Lincoln assassination appeared on the TV game show *I've Got a Secret* several weeks before his death in 1954.

the2belo , Wikipedia Report

#27

Queen Elisabeth II and Marilyn Monroe were born in the same year, 1926.

cosmic_jenny Report

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#28

40 Bits Of History That People Are Shocked To Learn Happened Simultaneously The first episode of Doctor Who aired the day after Kennedy was assassinated.

EightThreeEight838 , History in HD Report

#29

40 Bits Of History That People Are Shocked To Learn Happened Simultaneously Pablo Picasso died the same year Pink Floyd's "Dark Side Of The Moon" was released.

PrescottEagle , Beatriz Miller Report

#30

40 Bits Of History That People Are Shocked To Learn Happened Simultaneously Humans and Dodo birds coexisted up until the 1600s 

Ledge_r , BazzaDaRambler Report

#31

You were alive at the same time as the last living Civil War widow. She only died three years ago.

badgersprite Report

#32

40 Bits Of History That People Are Shocked To Learn Happened Simultaneously Musashi was wandering around Japan having duels when Michelangelo was painting the Sistine chapel

Cream-of-Mushrooom , Calvin Craig Report

#33

40 Bits Of History That People Are Shocked To Learn Happened Simultaneously The last WW1 veteran lived long enough to see the release of Minecraft.

planetary_facts , Oberon Copeland @veryinformed.com Report

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#34

40 Bits Of History That People Are Shocked To Learn Happened Simultaneously Anne Frank, Martin Luther King Jr., and Barbara Walters [were born in 1929.](https://twitter.com/WhatTheFFacts/status/446672526572519425), Barbra Walter died in December 2022.

NYSenseOfHumor , Ronni Kurtz Report

#35

Laws making interacial marriage illegal in Mississippi were still on the books in 1994.

sbrooks84 Report

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BetterBitterButter
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Was Mississippi a little slow? It's Mississippi's second appearance on this list and not for good reasons!

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#36

40 Bits Of History That People Are Shocked To Learn Happened Simultaneously There are definitely Japanese people alive right now who have interacted with actual samurai.

(Japan started modernizing and abolishing the samurai in the 1860s, so a samurai born in the 1840s that lived to be 100 would overlap with the lifespan of someone who is 80+ years old)

sailormegtune , Krys Amon Report

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xxx
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

''Saigo Takamori of Japan is known as the Last Samurai, who lived from 1828 to 1877''. I had no idea it was banned.. thought it just died out. Super interesting but so kinda sad. ''The emperor and his advisers sought to transform Japan into a powerful, industrialized nation-state, capable of standing toe-to-toe with Western powers. Central to this plan was the dismantling of the feudal system, including the abolition of the samurai class.''

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#37

If you were born before January 7, 1989, you existed at the same time as Emperor Hirohito.

RockVonCleveland Report

#38

Galileo Galilei could have taught at Harvard.

mosquitohater2023 Report

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#39

Cleopatra lives closer to us than when the pyramids were built

TheBlazingFire123 Report

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Vanessa Panerosa
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Cleopatra, Julius Caesar and Marc Antony all died roughly 30 years before the birth of Christ. Egypt was just as alluring and fascinating to the Ptolomies as it is to us now.

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#40

40 Bits Of History That People Are Shocked To Learn Happened Simultaneously The Titanic maiden voyage happened the same year as MDMA was created.

BrianH-84 , Wkipedia Report

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Surenu
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'm sure MDMA has absolutely no connection to crashing into an iceberg...

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#41

Man walked on the moon, Wendy's was founded, and Sesame Street first aired all in the same year.

YodasChick-O-Stick Report

#42

The Jonestown Massacre and the airing of The Star Wars Holiday Special happened within the same 48 hours.

JohnTheMod Report

#43

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Thomas Edison, John Philip Sousa, and Clint Eastwood were all alive at the same time.

Glade_Runner Report

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#44

The Marquis de Lafayette (from the American Revolutionary War and the Hamilton musical) lived long enough to have seen the first 3D motion picture. (Stereoscopy was invented a year before his death.)

Sir-Viette Report

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Monday
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

He was also significantly more famous in America than his native France during his lifetime (and maybe also now).

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#45

40 Bits Of History That People Are Shocked To Learn Happened Simultaneously The fax machine was invented the same year that Victoria, British Columbia was established as a trading post.

JustSomeApparition , Mgrasek100 Report

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Julie Love
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Anyone else feel like the fax machine was invented hundreds of years before it was ever used? Like they made one, and it took forever for them to realize they needed a second one?

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#46

40 Bits Of History That People Are Shocked To Learn Happened Simultaneously Pablo Picasso died 2 years before the Vietnam war ended

AdamMundorf , Ann Report

#47

Anne frank and Martin Luther King Jr. were born the same year.

LordBaranof Report

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LovelyLittleLesbian
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Had to fact check this one, I couldn’t believe it. Like I know when the holocaust happened and that MLK was in his 30s and 40s while involved in the civil rights movements, but they just feel like different worlds. Anyways, it’s true. They were both born in 1929

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#48

How about a twist on an old favourite:

Mammoths still existed when Ea-Nasir was selling s****y copper

lumoslomas Report

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Hippopotamuses
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1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Strangely. In a recurring theme, Nanni’s evidence of this was allegedly eaten by a mammoth.

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#49

Goodfellas was released a few weeks before West and East Germany reunited

ST-Parks Report

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Mark (it/urgh)
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

And the Berlin Wall coming down was a complete misunderstanding. They were supposed to build a gate to let ppl through but there was some confusion and the whole lot came down instead.

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#50

When the Civil War broke out in America, the modern bicycle had just been invented. (1860 for Michaux and Lallement's 'velocipede' and 1861 for the attack on Ft. Sumter)


Also, Nintendo is only 21 years younger than Tabasco sauce. (1868 and 1889)

pn1ct0g3n Report

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Kathryn Baylis
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Nintendo started out manufacturing playing cards. So yes, 1868 IS correct.

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#51

King Mongkut of Siam (the King featured in Roger’s and Hammerstein’s the King and I) ruled at the same time President Lincoln entered office. Mongkut even offered the president a couple of elephants for the war effort. Technically, the letter was addressed to Buchanan, but he had left office by the time the letter arrived.

SnooChipmunks126 Report

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Bouche, Audi, and Shyla, oh my!
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

One of the stupidest things about that musical was that when the king talked about giving Lincoln elephants, they were all the same gender. Presumably, someone with 82 children didn't know how babies were made. I mean, making his words simple because he's not comfortable speaking the language is acceptable. Showing him to be an idiot is not. He was a VERY intelligent man. I'm sorry, but that's a huge pet peeve of mine.

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#52

Aboriginal Australians were on Earth the same time as wooly mammoths.

Octonaughty Report

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David Paterson
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

One you may not know. Aboriginals were in Australia before Bass Straight existed. They walked to Tasmania on dry ground.

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#53

Henry Kissinger is still alive and opining in 2023

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#54

The last lynching happened in Mobile, AL on 21 March **1981**.

In 1994 the following bands released albums:

- Notorious BIG
- Oasis
- Hootie and the Blowfish
- Usher
- Korn
- Outkast
- Beck
- Soundgarden
- Green Day
- Pearl Jam
- Nine Inch Nails
- The Lion King ( I **can** feel the love tonight)
- The Cranberries
- Bon Jovi
- Ace of Base
- Sheryl Crow


What a decade to be a music fan.

Leucippus1 Report

#55

The Roman Empire could’ve ended in 1922 if you see the Ottomans as legitimate successors to the Eastern Roman Empire as they never officially got rid of the titles Vasileus and Kaysar i Rum

Yodi_worshipper1900 Report

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censorshipsucks
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

For those who can't make the titles out: vasileus = greek basileos = king. Kaysar i Rum = Caesar of Rome.

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#56

Nikola Tesla could have witnessed the US Civil War and World War 2. (1856-1943)

-Work_Account- Report

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Yeet_girl360
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

he missed Elon musk by 28 years, and the invention of the Tesla car by 65 years..

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#57

Current U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein is older than the Golden Gate Bridge.

DeanCheesePritchard Report

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IsItNapTimeYet
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Which is WHY the US needs term limits on the Senate and Congress. Yep I’m from the USA, no one has any idea about how frustrated I am right now. I’m so angry right now, and so sad at the same time.

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#58

COVID-19 and the last American Civil War pensioner

Irene Triplett was born in 1930 to an elderly Civil War veteran and his wife. Somehow she inherited his pension when her father died and she died in March of 2020.

FarkleSpart Report

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arthbach
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Irene qualified for a pension as the 'helpless child of a veteran'. She had cognitive impairments.

#59

John Tyler was the 10th President of the United States, serving from 1841 to 1845. He still has one living grandson.

CorgiMonsoon Report

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Billy Harrelson
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

For more context, Tyler was born in 1790. He married multiple times and fathered a son in his 60s I believe. That son fathered a son in his 60s or 70s which is why this is a thing. Not uncommen though. My grandfather was born in 1894. My father was born in 1932 when my grandfather was 38. I wasn't born until 1979 when my father was 46. To put that another way, my paternal grandfather was drafted to serve in the first World War when my maternal grandfather was 4 and my maternal grandmother wasn't even 1 yet. Gives more meaning to age just being a number.

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#60

I forget the specifics, but technically a samurai could have sent a fax to Abraham Lincoln.

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#61

The Islamic caliphate existed during WW1

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#62

Karl Marx once wrote a letter to Abraham Lincoln

PMMeUrHopesNDreams Report

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Sawdust
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

"Dear Mr. Lincoln, I like your hat. -K.M." (Actually it was letter supporting Lincoln's anti-slavery stance.)

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#63

Christopher Lee saw the last public execution.

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Anne Jones
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1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Hey! I said that in a previous post! It was the guillotine one.

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#64

John Cena and John Oliver were both on the same day, ALSO in 1977.

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#65

The last assault on the Capitol happened the same year the last Spider-Man movie (No Way Home) was released in 2021.

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xxx
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I don't really understand why this one is one the list...that was 2 years ago haha we all remember..

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#66

Kobe Bryant and the last Shah of Iran shared the earth for a few months

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#67

Classic pirates, cowboys, and samurai.

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#68

Henry VIII lived long enough to be able to receive a labiaplasty.

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Gourdeous
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

He would never have been able to receive a labiaplasty, having male genitalia and all...

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