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TIL That the dinosaurs far pre-date Betelgeuse, one of the brightest and most famous stars in the night sky. In fact the star was born around the same time as pre-humans walked the Earth

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16kBP TIL that Peter I of Russia introduced a tax on beards in 1698, to encourage men to shave and look more like European standards at the time. There even was a police force in charge of verifying payment of this tax, which could even forcibly shave people in the street who didn't pay it.
a08L TIL that Cheryl Bentov, the woman who seduced Mordechai Vanunu into going with her to Italy where he was subsequently kidnapped, transported to Israel to face a secret trial and sentenced to 18 years in prison, works as a real estate agent in Longwood, Florida.
JLav TIL a blonde, blue eyed Frenchman moved to London, pretended to be from Taiwan, and became the most famous “Asian” in 18th Century England. He even wrote an influential book about Asia even though he had never been there and had no idea what he was talking about.
epdak TIL that the French Navy has trained dolphins to detect underwater mines and enemy divers since the 1960s. The French Navy’s Marine Mammal Program involves training dolphins for underwater detection tasks, similar to the U.S. Navy’s Marine Mammal Program.
9dwG TIL The letter E is the most commonly used letter in 11 languages.