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TIL in 1968 Kim Il Sung sent 31 commandos to South Korea to try and assassinate the president. After they infiltrated the border they stumbled on two brothers chopping firewood. They decided to indoctrinate them about the benefits of communism and release them. The brothers notified the police

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0d87R TIL of the Mechanical Turk, a chess-playing "automaton" from the 1700s actually operated by a cleverly hidden human. It toured the palaces of Europe, even playing against Benjamin Franklin and Napoleon, who attempted to cheat multiple times, prompting the Turk to swipe all the pieces off the board.
WR5Y TIL of a British Marine who flung himself back-first onto a grenade to save his comrades. Though the explosion threw him in the air, his rucksack absorbed the blast and he walked away with a nosebleed and a headache
690eJ TIL The British government safeguarded the supply of fish and chips during the first and second world wars. It was one of the few foods in the UK not subject to rationing during the wars.
KONPR TIL that Emily Dickinson was more widely regarded as a gardener than a poet during her time. She even had a book of over 400 pressed plants.
EgEVP TIL Pistol Shrimp is one of the loudest animal on the earth.