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TIL: Australia claims ~5.9 million square kilometres of Antarctica (about 42%)

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yLQa TIL in 1831 an American pepper trading ship was attacked off the Island of Sumatra, where locals killed 3 and plundered the ship. In retaliation, Andrew Jackson sent a warship all the way back to Sumatra to destroy the village the attackers were from.
woeZo TIL that the 'Flash Gordon' comic strip had to contend with accusations of blasphemy when the Hawk Men were first introduced because the winged extraterrestrials too closely resembled angels
xxj0 TIL that ‘Mad Men’ understated its depiction of drinking, smoking, and sex in 1960s Manhattan. Advertising veteran Jerry Della Femina said that “Three-martini lunches were the norm … The only thing that saved us was that the clients and agencies that we were going back to drank as much as we did”.
0v7j TIL Beethoven won a sight reading piano competition by turning his sheet music upside down, playing it, then improvising on one of its themes for thirty minutes. His opponent, Daniel Steibelt, never returned to challenge him again.
Eg1ap TIL portraits of presidents were not depicted on the official currency of the USA until the beginning of the 20th century. The first dollars had the figures and faces of the characters of Greek and Roman mythology and pictures with the participation of Native Americans appeared on the money.