› added 11 months ago

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TIL the city of Boise, Idaho drops a 17-foot long potato for their New Year's celebration.

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DQeXY TIL that the entire population of Toulon, France was temporarily evicted in 1543 so that a fleet of the allied Ottomans could winter in the city. 30,000 soldiers spent 8 months there, the cathedral was converted into a mosque, and the king had to pay them 800,000 gold coins before they would leave.
YpJeZ TIL: Sweating is an efficient way to remove many heavy metals, so if you’ve been eating too much tuna, make sure to hit the sauna.
yd48 TIL in 1998 Serena Williams claimed she could beat any male tennis player ranked over 200, Karsten Braasch, ranked 203 at the time, accepted the challenge and beat Serena 6-1, followed by Venus 6-2. Subsequently Serena then changed her claim to any male player ranked over 350, but never challenged.
5xJB TIL that on average Greeks work for more hours than any other nationality in Europe.
P1ayL TIL The success of Rollerball (1975) led to promoters wanting to buy the rights to the in-film sport. The director, Norman Jewison, was outraged as the movie was to show the "sickness and insanity of contact sports and their allure."