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TIL that in 1783, the first living creatures to fly successfully in a hot-air balloon - a sheep, a duck, and a rooster - were sent aloft before Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette at Versailles, completing the 2-mile flight in about 8 minutes and landing unharmed.

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aoRb TIL the day before the 1996 US presidential election, the NYT Crossword contained the clue “Lead story in tomorrow’s newspaper” – the puzzle was built so that both electoral outcomes were correct answers, requiring 7 other clues to have dual responses
pRGG TIL In the 1989 film, Batman’s boots were actually Air Jordans
KGaG TIL mathematician Zachary Harris hacked into Google’s email system and sent a e-mail phishing attack to Larry Page from Sergey Brin’s e-mail account. All because he noticed a flaw in an e-mail sent from Google offering him a job and thought it was a test. It wasn’t.
pyM8 TIL: In 1971, Hunter S Thompson ran for Sheriff of Aspen. His campaign included replacing the streets with grass, allowing controlled drug sales, and renaming Aspen “Fat City”. His candidacy was so strong that the other two candidates colluded in order to stop him from winning.
7obp TIL Dogs are not colour blind, but cannot see as many different colours as humans