› added 7 years ago

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[TIL] that after WW2, France sent 49 (one for each state) special boxcars filled with gifts to the US, thanking the nation and her people for their help in World War Two. The train was called the “Merci Train.”

Read more mercitrain.org

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WbWN TIL: Chinese Empress Wu Zetian was one of the most brutal rulers in history, murdering countless rivals to consolidate her power. She would also require foreign dignitaries to perform cunnilingus on her, and even in her old age she kept a stable of sexual servants.
E1p0x TIL USA spent about 24 billion dollars on the “Saturn-Apollo” program until 1969, which would correspond to the sum of about 150 billion dollars today. It was the price to pay to make history, for the first people on the Moon to be American astronauts.
Q0Bd TIL that when actor Peter Boyle (Everyone Loves Raymond, Young Frankenstein) got married, his best man was Beatles’ John Lennon.
mapp TIL that the Postmaster general is the second highest paid government official after the President
BrlnD TIL Octopuses are immune to the stings of various types of jellyfish. They know this and will often rip off the stings of man-o-war (species closely related to jellyfish) and use them as whips to defend themselves from larger predators.