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TIL that a Plaque in Plainfield, Indiana marks the spot where a Carriage Driver intentionally drove through a huge mudhole to fling ex-President Martin Van Buren out of the carriage and into the mud. Van Buren had opposed a bill that would have funded improvements to the National Road.

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XErRj TIL that when Ethiopian Airlines Flight 702 was hijacked and flown to Switzerland, the Swiss Air Force did not respond because the "incident occurred outside normal office hours."
8174 TIL that during the Rwanda Genocide, Hotel Manager Paul Rusesabagina hid 1,268 refugees in his hotel, none of which were hurt or killed.
GXyQ TIL that when the last woolly mammoths died out, the pyramids of Giza were already a thousand years old
4X5VN TIL: "Lunch atop a skyscraper" - one of Americas most iconic photos taken in 1932 was staged as part of photo-shoot to promote the opening of the Rockefeller centre in New York. This is just one of several photos featuring real steel workers taken as part of the same photo-shoot.
PYOjn TIL that the word "decimation" stems from the a punishment meted out to units of the Roman army who were guilty of capital offences, whereby one man in ten was executed by nine fellow soldiers after they had all drawn lots. Thus, the army would literally be reduced by a tenth in size.