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TIL The inspiration for the creation of YouTube (according to co-founder Jawed Karim, the guy in "Me at the zoo") was that it was difficult to find videos online of the Janet Jackson Super Bowl halftime flash.

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Pn1e TIL that when the Westboro Baptist Church is sued, it can be quite profitable for them as many members of the Phelps family are lawyers, and their legal fees are paid by the state when they represent the church in lawsuits.
VwL4 TIL that a Finnish sniper had over 705 confirmed kills. 505 of which were from his Mosin Nagant rifle, which he used only his iron sights. The rest of the kills were from his submachine gun.
JYAAl TIL about Abram Petrovich Gannibal, an African child kidnapped to Russia as a gift for Peter the Great. The tsar freed him and raised him as his godson. Gannibal became a Major-General and the Governor of Reval. He is the great-grandfather of Alexander Pushkin, considered the greatest Russian poet.
8aXZG TIL about “Pikuach nefesh” the principle in Jewish law that the preservation of human life overrides virtually any other religious rule. When the life of a specific person is in danger, almost any mitzvah lo ta'aseh (command to not do an action) of the Torah becomes inapplicable.
Y7GpZ TIL about Helios Flight 522. An engineer failed to set the pressurization system back to auto from manual, causing most (except 2 flight attendants) to lose consciousness. The auto-pilot reached Greece and stayed in a holding pattern until they ran out of fuel and crashed, killing all 121 onboard.