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TIL a slave during the 1800s transatlantic slave trade cost 400X what a slave costs today on average

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OGvo1 TIL That STAR WARS is much inspired by the US as the empire, from its role during the Vietnam war. The second source recently put this view into context for me, I'll put it in the comments.
VNxB TIL that a Princeton professor recently proved that you can have identical snowflakes after growing them himself
D56r TIL one of Hitler’s personal chauffeurs and close friends was found to be Jewish and was targeted for expulsion from the SS by Heinrich Himmler. Upon hearing that Maurice was of Jewish descent Hitler made an exception for Maurice and his brothers calling them “honorary Aryans.”
WVb8 TIL that in 1998 a 24 year-old Mexican peed on the Arc de Triomphe, extinguishing the eternal flame that had been burning since 1921 in honor to the fallen in WWI.
ZpY4p TIL a copy of the Tang Dynasty Chinese version of the Diamond Sutra is both the earliest dated printed book (11 May 868), and the first known creative work with an explicit public domain written statement "for universal free distribution"