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TIL Chinese Empress Cixi once remarked that she has heard much of Queen Victoria but she did not think that "her life is half as interesting and eventful as mine". Under her, China attained the attributes of a modern state: industries, railways, electricity, telegraph, and an army and navy

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e00Lk This week's Newsweek proclaims that "Heaven Is Real"--a neurologist concludes it after a near-death experience. But how much do we know about those experiences?
a8MVM TIL a 2022 study revealed that Belgium's ban on loot boxes in video games had not been enforced by the Belgium Gaming Commission and that 82 of the 100 highest-grossing iPhone games were still selling loot boxes.
8e8OL TIL that the world's oceans contain 20 million tons of gold. This gold is dispersed throughout the oceans in tiny particles and is not currently economically feasible to extract. The total value of this gold is estimated to be around $771 trillion, which is nearly 10 times the current global GDP.
6vLl TIL that in his opposition to the Mexican War Abraham Lincoln said “Military glory,—that attractive rainbow that rises in showers of blood.”
6EJL8 TIL the reason that some semi-truck trailer doors have quilted patterns on their rear doors is to reduce glare on the vehicles following them.