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TIL 1816 is known as the Year Without a Summer. Several frosts and snow across New England destroyed crops and led to starvation.

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xVYZo TIL about the French Paradox: people who had bad habits, such as consumption of lots of fatty foods, chronic smoking, etc, lived longer in some towns of Burgundy than people in other towns. Why? - They were drinking more burgundy grapes that absorbed an antioxidant molecule produced by mushrooms.
VBBxm TIL Boris I Christianized Bulgaria and retired as a monk. When his son Vladimir attempted a pagan revival, Boris came out of retirement, blinded him, and had his other son Simeon made ruler instead. Boris returned to the monastery after threatening Simeon with the same fate if he betrayed the faith
D9WY TIL that after the 1991 START I treaty between the US and the USSR, the US chopped 365 B52 bombers into 5 pieces each using a 13,000lb steel blade dropped from a crane. It then left the pieces there for 3 months so that Russian satellites could verify their destruction.
laO5 TIL Thomas Midgley who invented Ethyl, the lead-based additive to gasoline, also invented chlorofluorocarbons, which just about destroyed the ozone layer. He got polio, invented a wire-and-pulley system to get himself out of bed, and then ended up being strangled by it.
e0gXg TIL that in 1978, and architecture student discovered the Citigroup Center in NYC was susceptible to strong winds due to it being on stilts. Renovations to address the issue were done during a newspaper strike at night while employees were at home. This work was largely unkown unknown until 1995!