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TIL in 1530, the chinese Ming Dynasty invented bronze-iron composite cannons. The Dutch claimed "it’s scarcely possible to find their equal outside of Ming Empire". After manchu Qing dynasty's conquest they deprioritised Gunsmithing and had to use 100-300 years old cannons against British Empire.

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QJl9M TIL That there are more people who have learned English as a second language than there are native English speakers, and that English is the most commonly learned second language.
nW7Wd TIL that the wristwatch was originally worn by women, only becoming accepted as a men's accessory over a century later due to the need for efficient, one-handed timekeeping by pilots and soldiers.
awV99 TIL: The eastern United States was once the home of over 3 billion chestnut trees. In the early 1900's, the trees were devastated by a chestnut blight which virtually eliminated all of the them. Today, there are still efforts to revitalize these beautiful trees!
yQbaJ TIL Penguin Diagrams used in quantum field theory to illustrate the behavior of subatomic particles were so named because physicist John Ellis lost a bar bet playing darts and had to use the word "penguin" in his next published paper. The so-called diagrams look like the outline of a penguin.
5YZgp TIL In 1940 9,169 British people were killed in road traffic accidents during the wartime blackout. One person died that year for every 200 vehicles on the road; today the figure is one for every 20,000.