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TIL that during the manhattan project, there was a legitimate concern that upon the detonation of an atomic bomb, the atmosphere would ignite and turn the earth into a mini star, killing everybody.

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8aWV8 TIL N.Machiavelli, fired from his job, subjected to torture and exiled in his farm after the fall of the republic, would return from the fields at dusk and put on a diplomat's formal attire just to make himself feel better while he was studying alone. At around this time he wrote "the prince"
KNKE TIL of the Lead Mask Case: the unsolved death of two men found on a hilltop wearing lead eye masks with no apparent injuries. A nearby notebook was found to contain the message ‘16:30 be at the specified location. 18:30 ingest capsules, after the effect protect metals await signal mask’
OolwY TIL 3 Canadian men working on a boat at Digby's waterfront freed a 15 ft minke whale tangled in a net which surrounded its mouth & embedded about an inch into its skin. The whale came to shore in waist-high water as if searching for help from humans; when free, the whale swam back to deeper waters.
E1Q4d TIL that even though Mikhail Gorbachev has been offered to have his notable winestain birthmark removed, he opted against it as he believed it would be perceived as him being more concerned with his appearance than other more important issues
QvlX TIL North Korea runs a multi-billion dollar crime syndicate called Bureau 39 that commits illegal activities throughout the world