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TIL there is an animal that looks like a gremlin with a “long, bony, witch-like middle finger” called an Aye Aye. These gentle, harmless animals are killed due to local superstition that aye-ayes are harbingers of death, and if an aye-aye points its middle finger at you, it’s a death sentence.

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VMdbm TIL In 1842, Abraham Lincoln publicly chastised James Shields in the course of a debate about banking in Illinois. The ridicule led Shields to challenge Lincoln to a duel in which the victor took the opponents' life and pride. On the duel-day, they called a truce with the bystanders' encouragement.
nWRG TIL The office of President of the US can be transferred to the Vice President if a majority of the cabinet votes that the sitting President is incapable of his duties. In theory, the cabinet could peacefully stage a coup and overthrow the president.
16g0P TIL In the 1970s East Germany had a coffee shortage so they made Vietnam into a supplier. East Germany invested the equivalent of tens of millions of dollars into Vietnam in exchange for half of Vietnam's coffee harvests for 20 years. By the first harvest in 1990 East Germany was already dissolved.
j6Pmj TIL that the Royal Hospital Chelsea derives its name from the archaic meaning of hospital, which is a place of hospitality and rest, and is an almshouse (charitable housing) for British Army veterans rather than a medical facility
Z8lk4 TIL Gerald Ford was the first person to be both vice president and president without being elected by the people. He was appointed vice president when Spiro Agnew resigned and he succeeded to the presidency when Nixon resigned.