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TIL: Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990, because of an insulting comment by one of its emirs.

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xV9PB TIL that Purgatory in the Divine Comedy (1320) is a mountain situated on the opposite end of the world to Jerusalem, and Dante and Virgil reach it by going to the centre of the Earth (via Hell) and up the other side. This is because the Medieval world, and hence Dante, knew the Earth was a sphere.
vPd7r TIL that 27% of WWII Japan's Allied prisoners died while 4% of Nazi Germany's Allied prisoners died.
pYLb TIL that gunnery sergeant R. Lee Ermey was originally meant to be the technical supervisor for Full Metal Jacket. He pretended to be gunnery sergeant Hartman while interviewing extras and had the interviews filmed. When Stanley Kubrick saw the video he gave Ermey the part.
jkDE TIL A North Carolina man who saw an SUV flip and roll on a highway, with no prior medical training, was able to provide medical aid to the victims with skills he learned from the video game America’s Army.
D1G7P TIL the longest freight train ever was 4.5 miles long and weighed 99,734 tons, equal to 2493 fully loaded semi-trailer trucks.