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TIL at Germany’s Klaasohm festival on Borkum Island, masked men traditionally chased women and beat them with a cow horn, a ritual linked to whaling history. After public outrage and political intervention, the practice was abolished.

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BrELr TIL It was unknown who "Rosie the Riveter" was based on until Geraldine Doyle claimed that it was her in 1994. It was widely believed to be true until James Kimble found the original photograph with the name Naomi Parker in the caption in 2015.
0wxgM TIL that Linuk IX, a communist-era housing project in modern Slovakia, is Europe's largest gypsy slum.
4Xg5J TIL that the sun and the moon look to be the same size because the diameter of the sun and moon and the distance to earth both share a 1:400 difference, making them look the same size, this has not been seen with any other planet-moon combination
BrjVe TIL For the movie Star Wars, the sound designer for the Stormtrooper's blasters came up with the sound of the blaster during a family backpacking trip. He hit the guy-wire of an AM radio transmitter tower with a hammer and recorded the sound with a microphone close to the impact.
X6JX TIL that after he was shot down on May 1, 1960, U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers was subjected to a show trial in Moscow, during which he was very calm and dignified during the trial. However, he was sharply criticized later in the American media for not committing suicide.