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TIL that Joseph Pierce fought for the Union army during the American Civil War even through, he was born in China

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6EaxJ TIL that the British Library is legally required to obtain a copy of every book published in the UK and Ireland, and also purchases a large percentage of English language books published abroad. This equates to an additional 6 miles of shelving each year.
mxXyY TIL "paint the town red" refers a night of drunken vandalism by the Maquess of Waterford. In 1837, he and a group of fox-hunting friends arrived in the English town of Melton Mowbray, where they painted several doors, a sign, a tollgate, the tollkeeper, and sevearl police officers with red paint.
ne1eb TIL in 1987 when an SR-71 Blackbird lost an engine while flying Mach 3 over the Baltic Sea, four Swedish jets prevented it from getting shot down by the Soviets. The mission was declassified 30 years later, and the four Swedish pilots that protected the Blackbird were awarded the US Air Medal
OaMg TIL In 1893 an amendment was proposed to rename the US to the United States of Earth.
epxa4 TIL that in the Commonwealth of Virginia the Dept of Professional and Occupational Regulation you can file a complaint against a professional wrestler, boxer, or martial artist, among other occupations.