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TIL Reporters Without Borders list the US as an Enemy of the Internet along with China, Russia, UK, North Korea, Iran and 13 other countries. These countries mark themselves out by their capacity to censor news and information online but also for their almost systematic repression of Internet users

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mGPE TIL that every winter at a research station in the South Pole, 50 people are left totally isolated for 8 months. An annual tradition for the personnel is the back to back watching of the 3 “The Thing” films after the last plane has left for the winter
NoJE TIL Sean Connery turned down roles in “The Matrix” and “Lord of the Rings” because he didn’t understand the script. He would later accept “The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" despite not understanding the project. He hasn’t acted since.
16bM7 TIL a medieval chess piece orginally bought for £5 in 1964, then kept in a drawer for decades, sold for £735K in 2019. It was discovered the warder (equivalent to a rook) is one of the five major pieces (1 knight, 4 warders) missing from the 1831 Lewis chessman hoard of four 12th century chess sets.
b9610 The founder and first leader of North Korea, Kim Il Sung, created the country's policy of juche or "self-reliance," which cut off North Korea economically and diplomatically from the rest of the world, even in times of great need, such as famines.
rRBJy TIL critics complained that a bronze statue of the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal standing in San Francisco's Civic Center more closely resembled the Sumerian king Gilgamesh.