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TIL the famous photo of Marines raising the American flag over Mount Suribachi during the Battle of Iwo Jima taken on Feb. 23, 1945, was actually the second flag raised there that day. AP photographer Joe Rosenthal missed the first raising because he was "still climbing up the mountain at the time"

kOx4e TIL Hypnic jerks (that jolt you get that wakes you up just before you fall asleep) may well be left over from when we were tree-dwelling monkeys: the jerk reflex prevented us from falling asleep on an unsafe branch.
XE46r TIL In 2007, the science advocacy group Sense About Science contacted the manufacturers of 15 "detox" products. When pressed, not a single detox peddler contacted could come up with a definition of what they meant by detox
0PLy TIL influential newspaper editor William Thomas Stead wrote a story in 1892 about a ship sinking in the Atlantic at great loss of life due to not enough lifeboats. Stead died in the Titanic sinking in 1912.
eaMJ TIL on January 15, 1919, in Boston a large molasses storage tank burst, and a wave of molasses rushed through the streets at an estimated 35 mph (56 km/h), killing 21 and injuring 150. The event has entered local folklore. Residents claimed that on hot summer days, the area still smells of molasses.
QJPjd TIL that a ticket seller at a Japanese garden stopped collecting admission fees from foreign tourists after one of them yelled at him and he became too scared to ask them to pay. He let about 160.000 people enter the garden free in 2 and a half years causing a $220,000 demage.