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TIL after Hawaiian King Kamehameha was hit in the head with a paddle by a frightened fisherman during a battle, he not only spared the man’s life but decreed a “Law of the Splintered Oar” protecting civilians in war that’s still part of Hawaii law in the State constitution.

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QJlAE TIL Ivan IV (the Terrible) inherited a library thought to contain ancient works from Libraries of Alexandria & Constantinople. Afraid that books would be stolen, he ordered his men to bury the books, then executed them. He died before revealing the location. Searches for the library continue today.
QJYpk TIL in the 1st century AD two major Talmudic schools had a debate over whether mankind would've been better off having been born or not having been born. After two and a half years of argument, votes were counted and the side defending birth lost
n0BP TIL-By definition, moonshine is illegally made and is not just another type of alcohol. It tends to be illegally made whiskey.
e0QE4 TIL that ketchup was first sold as medicine. In 1834 Dr. John Cooke Bennet invented the idea to add tomatoes to ketchup (a fish or mushroom mix at the time). He believed that adding tomatoes added the vitamins and antioxidants needed to cure indigestion, later prescribing tomato pills to patients.
d8OgQ TIL The Snow in the Blizzard of 1949 was So Hard and So Deep they Used Dynamite to Blast the Trains Free