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TIL that there is a stereotype in Japan that train photographers (toritetsu) have a tendency to engage in criminal activity

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v1eM8 TIL that there was a conspiracy theory that Jimi Hendrix faked his death and became Morgan Freeman
JYyYV TIL that the USA dropped thousands of food packages over Afghanistan as a way of trying to earn the goodwill of the local population. Unfortunately they were printed in languages the average Afghan couldn't read, and were the exact color as cluster munitions dropped during the same operation.
W1GY TIL during the Tiananmen Square incident Chinese agents were tasked with spotting foreign journalists taking pictures from their hotel room windows. After determining their room number an entry team would batter down the door and try and seize any film.
a8QKM TIL that in 1572, Tycho Brahe spotted a "new star" that briefly outshone Venus and was seen in daylight. This supernova was exploding around 9,000 light-years away, 300 million times brighter than the Sun, and visible naked-eye for 16 months. It shattered medieval ideas that the stars never change.
LQdnV TIL some churches have a hagioscope (or squint), a hole in a wall which allowed segregated worshippers to view the altar, one London church had to admonish nuns who got into the habit of kissing ‘secular persons’ via the squint