› added 5 years ago

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TIL The first time evidence of an exoplanet was found was in 1917, but the first exoplanet wasn't confirmed until 1992. Astronomers have now discovered 4200+ exoplanets in 3100+ star systems.

8aQe4 TIL Dick Tuck, a political consultant and prankster, pulled many pranks on Richard Nixon. One included renting a huge auditorium for Nixon to speak but inviting only a few guests. He also hired a pregnant black woman to walk around in a white neighborhood with a sign reading: “Nixon’s the one!”
0PpN TIL that the Chinese phrase for “the general public” literally translates to the “Old 100 Families” as the 100 most common Chinese surnames account for 84.77% of China’s population. To reach this percentage in the US, you’d need to include approx. 150,000 surnames.
p8yE8 TIL that the year 1816 is known as the "year without summer" due to the volcanic eruption of Mount Tambora in Indonesia which resulted in tens of thousands of deaths, a global temperature drop of up to 3 degrees Celsius and unusually cold and wet conditions sweeping across Europe and North America.
ADldB TIL the Russian mafia smuggled grain alcohol to Eastern Europe by dying it blue, labeling it s windshield-wiper fluid, cologne, mouthwash and cleaning solvents and once overseas removing the dye and selling the alcohol as high end liquor
aw7jL TIL Hitler proposed a peace treaty to Churchill in 1941 by which the Germans would have evacuated Western Europe if the UK remained neutral when Germany attacked Russia, Churchill refused.