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TIL that the Holy Roman state of Hesse-Kessel became a "mercenary state" renting out its army to other major powers. The state maintained strict neutrality, to the point that it would rent out soldiers to both sides of a conflict and the Hessian soldiers would end up fighting each other.

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epvO6 TIL of Janet Parker from the University of Birmingham Medical School. She likely contracted smallpox via air ducts in her office via a lab where researchers kept samples. Within 4 weeks she was dead, her father died of a heart attack visiting her in the hospital and her boss cut his own throat.
XE7Lj TIL In 1838, a man stopped on the Boulevard du Temple in Paris to get his boots cleaned. He and the cleaner stood still for at least seven minutes on the street, and accidentally became the first people in history to be photographed.
R56j TIL that someone had a baby three months premature– the baby was declared stillborn. . The mother, eager to at least see the baby 12 hours after the operation– found the baby alive. . nailed in a coffin, almost frozen inside the morgue.
M7VQB TIL The word "white" in the name "white rhinoceros" is often said to be a misinterpretation of the Afrikaans word wyd (Dutch wijd) meaning wide, referring to its square upper lip, as opposed to the pointed or hooked lip of the black rhinoceros.
DQ5dv TIL with a "Constant acceleration" space ship, at 1G acceleration you could travel the diameter of the milkey way (105,000 Light years) in a short 12 years.