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TIL about the Mormon Battalion, an infantry battalion of the US Army. It was the only unit in American military history recruited solely from one religious group and having a religious title as the unit designation. The only "battle" they fought was against a sizable number of wild cattle.

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8elLa TIL that before Lincoln Center could reward David Geffen's $100 Million donation by renaming "Avery Fisher Hall" to "David Geffen Hall", they had to pay the heirs of Fisher - the original donor - $15 million. Geffen's donation has a provision that requires his name to be on the hall "in perpetuity".
lg4K TIL of the 1986 Lake Nyos disaster which belched out trapped Carbon Dioxide from its bottom in effervescence suffocating every living animal within a 16 mile radius incl. 1700 villagers and 3500 livestock. The blue lake turned deep red from oxidization and water levels dropped by a meter.
lJ4G TIL that Scientology has its own prison, named “The Hole”, where Scientology executives are sent for months or even years of confinement, manual labour and humiliation.
lolOK TIL The Neverending Story film only features about one half of the original book, and was absolutely loathed by the author.
jN17a TIL that on March 6, 1967, Stalin’s daughter - 41-year-old Svetlana Alliluyeva - defected at the U.S. embassy in New Delhi, India, where she publicly denounced Communism and “embraced God, America and apple pie.”