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TIL In 1851 when the refrigerated ice machine was patented, the large ice-importing industry ran a smear campaign against the technology, calling it immoral.

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ndZG TIL Germany is the third largest exporter on Earth, accounting for nearly as much exports as the entire US, and for $1.5 trillion of the EU’s $2.1 trillion in exports.
LQ6RV TIL: Genghis Khan was took an arrow in the knee while on campaign against the Jin Dynasty and instead of retiring, went on to pillage and sack the Jin capital
aGdo TIL When the world’s largest diamond was transported from Africa to England, an elaborate & secure journey by sea was publicized - as a rouse. The real diamond was simply posted by mail.
P1LDO TIL that when on shore leave in Singapore, members of the Royal Australian Navy used to get atop a public toilet building in Bugis and perform “The Dance of the Flaming Arseholes”
p8X6O TIL for millennia, people slept in two shifts – once in the evening, and once in the morning. Biphasic sleeping is mentioned as early as the 8th Century BC, and appears to have remained the dominant, natural format up until the Industrial Revolution.