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TIL that starting in 1817, the first year curriculum at West Point consisted solely of mathematics and French classes. The best available textbooks were in French, so all cadets had to learn French so they could read their math texts.

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vPE1B TIL that in the middle ages, men who wanted a boy sometimes had their left testicle removed as they believed that the left testicle produce "girl" sperm and the right testicle produce "boy" sperm
GAe9g TIL that in Japanese, Genghis Khan ("ジンギスカン" or "成吉思汗") refers to a grilled mutton dish, while the founder and first Khan of the Mongol Empire is taught in textbooks by his regnal name, Chinggis Khan ("チンギス・ハーン"), rather than as Genghis Khan.
oRlZA TIL a number of people, including a group of Swedish researchers, tried to replicate the experiment shown in the documentary Super Size Me(2004). None of them were able to get the same results as the documentary creator.
WX78 TIL NASA use’s the film Armageddon as training. New recruits have to find as many inaccuracies as possible. There are 168, more than 1 per minute.
OGkQR TIL Caffeine-Free Coca Cola didn't switch back from the New Coke formula released in 1985 to the original formula until 1989