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75

TIL of William Walker, an American physician, lawyer, journalist, mercenary, slavery supporter, and Southern folk hero from from Tennessee. Walker seized control of Nicaragua from 1856 to 1857, and convinced many U.S. Southerners of the desirability of creating a Confederate empire in Latin America.

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8aZAL TIL that Hiroshima and Nagasaki were just 2 of dozens of Japanese cities subjected to massive incendiary attacks. Firestorms leveled almost 100 square miles in Japan's three largest cities (Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya) alone. Hundreds of thousands were killed and millions forced to evacuate.
Bevk TIL that if we had a spacecraft that could “simply” accelerate at a constant 1g (the acceleration rate of free-falling objects due to gravity), then the passengers would be able to travel through the entire KNOWN universe, not merely the observable universe, in just one lifetime.
69lbw TIL that Beethoven’s hearing loss may have helped him compose. He used “bone conduction” by clenching a rod in his teeth and pressing it against his piano, to receive perception of the sound when vibrations transfer from the piano to his jaw.
9Md6 TIL Finland was the only country to pay off its WWI debt to the US, and finished in 1976.
R7O06 TIL that Prince John, the inspiration of Robin Hood, raised taxes on the general population to 13% in 1207, which was a factor in the creation of the Magna Carta which limited the king's taxation power among other things