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TIL: In the 18th century, Britain dumped Opium in China because later only accepts Silver which caused a serious balance of payments issue for Britain. This eventually leads to the establishment of the tea industry in India by stealing Chinese plants and their tea expertise.

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gDGA TIL that, largely due to Oliver Stone’s JFK, all existing assassination-related documents will become publicly available by next year.
QOX9 TIL of Ryan Holle. A man sentenced to life in prison for lending his car to his roommate and going back to sleep drunk. His roommate robbed a drug dealer and killed a teenager.
6R5Z TIL researchers used a weather balloon to carry 200 paper planes 20 miles up from a barn in Wolfsberg, Germany. The planes were released and found in numerous countries, such as Australia, Russia, and India.
ykX TIL that there is a town in Michigan called Hell– and that anyone can be the mayor of Hell for a day by simply answering six questions.
kVO5 TIL a Chinese beggar whose hands were ruined in an explosion spent a decade designing a new type of two-handed calligraphy. The result was so impressive that China’s largest font maker gave him a design contract with 50 years of royalties and helped to get him off the streets.