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TIL Martin van Buren was the first president born in the newly formed United States, but spoke Dutch as his first language.

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7rXe7 TIL of the Zoo hypothesis. Life is common in the Universe, but extraterrestrial civilizations intentionally avoid communication with Earth to allow for natural evolution and sociocultural development, and to avoid interplanetary contamination, similarly to people observing animals at a zoo.
pYdme TIL that we can never travel at the speed of light according to our current understanding of the physics of the universe because to travel at speed of light, we would need infinite amount of energy which is not possible. Quite a revelation after watching 100s of sci-fi movies.
GYQrg TIL that when King James I of England had trouble fattening up his horses, court jester Archibald Armstrong suggested that His Majesty make the horses bishops and they would fatten in no time.
kab7 TIL that at the 2012 London Olympics, American athlete Manteo Mitchell broke his leg 200 meters into his 400 meter leg of the race. Despite this, he finished fast enough for his team to qualify for the finals.
VMmW0 TIL that the beloved British dish of fish&chips was the result of Portugeuse Jews fleeing the Inquisition and bringing their fried fish dish and potatoes losing their bad reputation as gross and poisonous, becoming a European staple.