› added 4 years ago

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TIL lenses implanted in the eye following cataract surgery, are the result of a surgeon realizing shrapnel from a WW2 windshield lodging in a pilot's eye did not cause an infection or show signs of tissue rejection.

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5GAR TIL that map makers fabricate streets and geographical landmarks, called “Trap Streets,” to catch copyright violators.
J1XeQ TIL the French got a concession port in Southern China at Zhanjiang in 1898, with a treaty until 1997 (same date and same idea as Hong Kong). However it was never very profitable or popular, and they gave it back after WWII
v1rrL TIL that Indian surgeons were performing successful rhinoplasties as early as 600 BC. They'd slice an upside-down nose shape from your forehead skin, twist it around, and insert hollow bamboo sticks for you to breathe through.
wLbb6 TIL that Spain's King Philip II (after whom the Philippines are named) became King of England and Ireland when he married England's Queen Mary I, reigning jointly with his wife. As he couldn't read English it was ordered that a note of all matters of state should be made in Latin or Spanish
AD41n TIL that the small "climbing boys" who were forced up chimneys to clean them sometimes had fires lit underneath them deliberately to encourage them to climb if they were reluctant, and would sometimes get caught in the flames and burn to death