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TIL the US Patent Office building was the only major government building to survive the British burning of Washington DC during the War of 1812.Superintendent Dr. William Thorton persuaded the British that they’d be destroying the shared intellectual record of mankind if the patents were burned

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jRZj TIL the “Nation” referred to by the National Hockey League (NHL) is Canada
8aVKX TIL John Stark, an unpaid rescuer of the Donner Party who refused to leave any of the 9 dying survivors, mostly children, behind (unlike his paid partners who just grabbed one kid each and left). He carried 2-3 at a time, then went back and repeated the process. Stark, and all 9, survived.
eYdE TIL that Russia’s answer to Eurovision was called Intervision and it was judged by Electricity Grid Voting: “Those watching at home had to turn their lights on when they liked a song and off when they didn’t, with data from the electricity network then being used to allocate points”
QNGE9 TIL of Propaganda Due, an Italian masonic lodge founded in 1877 that by 1980s became known as the “a state within a state” responsible for high-level corruption and political manipulation.
0ZvR TIL That in 1974 a US Army Private stole a helicopter and landed it at the White House…Twice.