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TIL the Eiffel Tower is 6 inches taller in the summer because steel expands in the heat - so climb it in the winter

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EEO0 TIL Alfred Nobel invented dynamites. And when he was mistakenly declared dead in 1888, newspapers published obituaries that stated that “the merchant of death is dead.” Ashamed to leave such a legacy, he left the money he made from dynamites to celebrate humanity; thus created the Nobel Prize.
5YVaR TIL the dish "Spaghetti and Meatballs" is not at all Italian. It's 100% American.
nebvr TIL some American colonists thought tomatoes were poisonous. To prove their safety to other NJ locals, Robert Gibbon Johnson brought a basketful to the town square and dramatically ate them in front of an audience of ~2000. At least one person fainted as the crowd cheered him on.
XEm8Q TIL - Deus ex machina (god from the machine) is a plot device whereby a seemingly unsolvable problem in a story is suddenly and abruptly resolved by an unexpected and seemingly unlikely occurrence. H.G. Wells used it in War of the Worlds to kill the Martians with bacteria.
DQvxD TIL about the Count of St. Germain who was an 18th-century adventurer who achieved prominence in European high society, but nothing is known about him because he kept lying about it. He knew many languages. He was a musical composer and violinist. He knew history, and was an accomplished chemist.