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TIL that on one occasion, J.S. Bach was in Dresden at the same time as a French organist named Louis Marchand. There was to be a competition between the two men to see who was better at improvisation. Marchand heard Bach practicing the day before the competition and left town.

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KYoB4 TIL two Imperial Japanese soldiers competed to see who would be the first to decapitate 100 surrendered Chinese soldiers with a sword. (they were later executed for war crimes, having killed 106 and 105, respectively)
Rxb1 TIL French numbers are normally expressed in base 10, but numbers 60-99 are expressed in base 20. The French word for 80 is quatre-vingts, literally “four twenties”, and the word for 75 is soixante-quinze, literally “sixty-fifteen”.
woGGW TIL that during the United States occupation of Haiti in 1914, the equivalent of over $14m in today’s money in gold assets, were seized from Haiti and transferred to National City Bank in New York.
mpMp TIL that “Horseback riding carries a higher injury rate than motorcycle riding.”
xmg7 TIL The longest flight lasted over 2 months, a record that hasn’t been broken for more than 50 years.