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TIL the story of the assassination of Yi Ŭimin, a powerful military dictator in the 1100s in Goryeo in what is now Korea, began when his son stole a pigeon.

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x6mZ7 TIL Iceberg Wranglers are a real thing. They utilize boats and ropes to move smaller icebergs out of shipping lanes, to help prevent collisions in places where icebergs often float freely.
AGYn TIL that Maxamillian Kolbe was a Polish priest who volunteered to die in the place of a man in Auschwitz after he overheard him cry out for his wife and children. The man he saved, Mr. Gajowniczek, died in 1995 at the age of 93.
4kJw6 TIL Sam Kinison and Michael Richards aka Cosmo Kramer from Seinfeld, were originally considered to play Al Bundy in the comedy sitcom "Married With Children".
rNJ84 TIL that from 1170 to 1512, "The Neck Verse" could save one from punishment for almost any crime in England. Literate accusees, or criminals who had simply memorised Psalm 51:3, would recite it to claim the "Benefit of Clergy", meaning they would be tried by the much more lenient church courts.
M74Em TIL about Ruritanian romance, a genre of literature, film Etc. with stories set in a fictional country, usually in the Balkan, Central or Eastern Europe. Used f.ex. in 'Prisoner of Zelda', 'Duck Soup', 'Pale fire', 'King in New York', 'Castle of Cagliostro', 'Grand Budapest Hotel'.