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TIL in 1867 after Union soldiers set fire to Columbia, SC, the New York Fire Dep. raised money for a hose carriage; Colombia promised to return the favor whenever New York needed it. Shortly after 9/11, Colombia Fire Dep. followed up and raised money for a new fire truck for the NYPD.

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vPReK TIL that the African Union has a 43-party free trade zone for goods, stretching from South Africa to Tunisia
Yp6l7 TIL In the 80's a shipping container full of Garfield landlines fell overboard off the coast of France. To this day these phones are still found off the Britanny/Normandy coast.
Lk1Dp TIL that Keanu Reeves runs a private charitable foundation to fund cancer research and children’s hospitals. In 2009, he told Ladies Home Journal: "I don’t like to attach my name to it, I just let the foundation do what it does."
v1OXR TIL that, on 16 november 1949, students in Ghent (Belgium) stormed the medieval castle, lowered the portculis and threw fruit from the walls at the police to protest a new tax on beer. The event is still commemorated yearly by the city as the greatest student prank in its history.
NXMPP TIL Stephen Colbert's father and brothers were killed in a plane crash because the flight crew were discussing politics among other subjects