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TIL in 1968, a car driven by bank employees was pulled over by a motorcycle cop claiming the car had been rigged with a bomb. The cop got under the car to “defuse” the device. When the car started to smoke, everybody ran. Then the “cop” just drove the car away. The 300M Yen robbery remains unsolved

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vPvJ7 TIL: memory foam mattress get firmer in cold temperatures
b9X09 TIL The New Hampshire Astronomical Society donated over a dozen telescopes to local public libraries around the state so they can be put into circulation just like a book. Their 4.5-inch telescopes shows the Moon and deep sky objects in far more detail than common "beginners" telescopes
kNre TIL of Galvarin, a famous Mapuche warrior during the majority of the early part of the Arauco War. Conquistadors chopped off both of his hands, so he fastened knives to both of his wrists and went back for revenge.
PKOJ TIL in 1960, the computer at NORAD warned with 99.9% certainty that the Soviets had just launched a full-scale missile attack against North America. NORAD later discovered that the Early Warning System in Greenland had interpreted the moon rising over Norway as a missile attack from Siberia.
Ooeke TIL that immediately after the murder of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics, the German chancellor mandated that all participant nations fly their flags at half-mast. Ten Arab nations objected to their flags being lowered to honour murdered Israelis, and so they were restored to full-mast.