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TIL that Libyan dictator Gaddafi gave the Irish Republican Army four tons of Semtex. The IRA sold the plastic explosive to FARC in Colombia with bomb-making technology and training, charging $1 million per class for 28 classes

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690GX TIL one of the longest writings preserved in Pompeii is the poem of a woman yearning for another woman
6E7nZ TIL 250 Union soldiers surrendered to the Confederates, enlisted in the Confederate Army while held as POWS, were recaptured by the Union Army, and then re-enlisted as Union soldiers. They were called Galvanized Yankees.
kOEW7 TIL An assistant professor at Stanford created a hand powered paper centrifuge ($0.20 to make) and a paper-lense microscope($0.45-$0.55). Both helping to diagnose blood borne illnesses, such as malaria, in underdeveloped countries.
9Yj9Q [TIL] that though Finland was allied with Germany during WW2, they refused to expel their native (and immigrant) Jewish population, with those serving in the army taking particular delight in speaking Hebrew around the SS and Wehrmacht in Finland.
NXVe1 TIL That aircraft have swept back wings to delay supersonic airflow which helps prevent wave drag. But they are not ideal for slow air speeds.