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TIL the traditional role of the Japanese Emperor is not chief of the military, but “protector of the rice-plants.” Each year he must enact the Onamesai, an erotic and secret ritual that ensures the continual flow of divine rice into our realm.

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preb TIL that not only has there never been a better rocket than the Saturn V (built in 1967), but that today’s engineers can’t even recreate it.
X0eyD TIL The head of the Gestapo during WW2, Heinrich Muller, was never found. Multiple conflicting stories about his death or survival exist, and he's one of the highest ranking 'missing' Nazis.
yQ8eX TIL the Sixteen Pleasures, the Vaticans 16th century sex guide, escaped complete destruction. The author landed in jail but despite all these efforts the book was re-edited in the 18th century, with illustrations.
N7aQM TIL Quantum Immortality is a thought experiment according to which self conscious beings cannot experience death. According to the experiment, the self conscious being’s mind would just switch to another reality in which its death did not occur.
RyKl TIL that the traditional way to pronounce Julius Caesar, is (yewl-yoos kay-i-sarr), showing where the imperial titles of Russian ‘Czar/Tsar’ or 'Kaiser’, in German, had their origins in Classical Latin and more than 2000 years as a legacy to Caesar’s family name.