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TIL of the 1993 Storming of Kempton Park World Trade Centre, when more than 3,000 far-right paramilitaries stormed the venue where multi-party negotiations to end apartheid in South Africa were being held.

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grDMX TIL that after the 1855 death of the great mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss, his brain was preserved for study and became the subject of numerous papers. It was only discovered in 1998 that the his label had gotten swapped with that of the brain of pathologist Conrad Fuchs who died the same year.
JGXj TIL critics complained that Indian musician Daler Mehndi’s music was only popular because his videos featured beautiful women. Mehndi’s response was to create a video featuring only copies of himself greenscreened in, leading to the creation of the “Tunak Tunak Tun” video.
vPZBx TIL that in 1982, 28-year-old Vladimir Smirnoff, ranked world #1 in fencing, was killed at the World Fencing Championships when a broken foil pierced his mask, entered his eye socket and penetrated his frontal lobe. The incident is the reason why fencing uniforms now include Kevlar as standard.
1ALV TIL in 1946, a Georgia Tech Graduate Student and amateur photographer rushed to the scene of a hotel fire and snapped a photo that would would win him a Pulitzer. The photo is of a woman jumping from the 11th story to escape the flames, and led to new safety regulations across the US
LQdPr Today I learned that in the Marshall Islands (where Bikini Atoll, the namesake of the bikini, is located) bikinis are considered taboo because they expose the shoulders and thighs.