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TIL the first known movie to use a special effect is the 18 second long film The Execution of Mary Stuart. The effect was the stop trick, involving the splicing of two shots, one with the actor playing Mary and the other with a mannequin, with the mannequin's head being chopped off.

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QJk1p TIL of the Bronze Age collapse, in which incredibly rich, powerful, advanced civilizations, dependent on complex trade and agriculture, vanished in the span of a human lifetime.
neMDY TIL Four year old Wilhelm II attended the wedding of Edward VII and Alexandra of Denmark. Wilhelm was in the care of his uncle Prince Alfred. Alfred asked Wilhelm to be quiet and the child threatened to stab his uncle with a dirk. A conflict occured and Wilhelm bit his uncle on the leg.
b9lQ9 TIL the largest British ship lost at sea, the MV Derbyshire at 92,000 tons, went down in a typhoon off Japan without ever issuing a mayday call. Investigators found the wreck and concluded the entire sinking could have happened in as little as two minutes. This video simulation is real time.
GY0e4 TIL of Kim Hyon-hui, a North Korean spy who was captured by South Korea. She agreed to cooperate after being taken on a tour of Seoul and discovering that the South was vastly more prosperous than the North
E1awp TIL about John Bulkeley, who evacuated MacArthur from the Philippines, recruited JFK into the Navy, and tested security on the base he commanded by dressing up as a ninja and sneaking around at night