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TIL that in 1864, Karl Marx wrote a letter to Abraham Lincoln to congratulate him on being re-elected and for fighting the “American Antislavery War”.

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pLvA TIL Pentagon freaked out in the 1980s when they realized Finland had, against their expectations, managed to build two Mir submarines capable of diving to 6000 meters. They went on to shut down the whole Finnish submarine industry by privately threatening the country with heavy sanctions.
PYd0E TIL Kim Il Sung University is one of two North Korean universities that presently accepts foreign students, the other being Kim Hyong Jik University of Education. It hosts approximately 100 exchange students a year, the majority from China. Alumni include Kim Jong Il, Chinese official Zhang Dejiang
WBW9 TIL that Melvil Dewey, creator of the Dewey Classification System, had “a persistent inability to control himself around women”. At Columbia “it was rumored that he asked for their bust sizes with their applications”; not true, but he did ask for photographs because “you cannot polish a pumpkin”.
KOvZ6 TIL that the Republic of San Marino has the lowest incarceration rate in the world
OoQkX TIL In 1937, Angelo Hays was declared dead and buried 3 days later. 2 days after that, an insurance investigation exhumed him and found him in a coma. He made a complete recovery. He later invented a coffin complete with upholstery, a food locker, chemical toilet, library, and radio transmitter.