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TIL that smallpox is the first and only disease that has ever been eradicated. Smallpox now only exists in high security labs in Russia and the US. Vaccinations played a major role in achieving this eradication.

Read more historyofvaccines.org

via reddit.com

rRamd TIL of Operation Pastorius, a German WWII mission of sabotage inside the United States. It failed primarily due to defections, but was in danger of being compromised right from the start as one of the agents, when drunk, announced to patrons at a bar in Paris that he was a secret agent.
5VA4n TIL that autopilot was first invented in 1912
J1ayl TIL Asian studies major Alex Sigley became interested in North Korea while studying at Shanghai's Fudan University where he first met North Koreans. He later transferred to Kim Il Sung university, one of three students from Western nations and stayed there for more than a year until he was detained
75nO TIL that “The Hound” is the same man responsible for the word “Yarp”. Actor Rory McCann played both Sandor “The Hound” Clegane in “Game of Thrones”, and Michael “Lurch” Armstrong the stock-boy/henchman in “Hot Fuzz”.
5Yk7r TIL John Steinbeck, author of such classics as Of Mice and Men, once wrote a werewolf murder mystery novel titled, Murder at Full Moon. It was never published.