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157

TIL about President Risto Ryti of Finland who, in exchange for military and food assistance during WWII, promised Germany he would fight the Soviet Union. Germany provided the supplies, and Ryti resigned, allowing his successor to seek peace with the Soviets.

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M70aW TIL in 1780, in an event known as Dark Day, New England was cast into blackness as a result of Ontario wildfires mixed with unfavorable atmospheric conditions. Such was the lack of light, candles were needed in the day to provide illumination. Parts of New Hampshire were covered in ash 6" deep.
em0b TIL Baghdad, considered to be currently among the least hospitable places to live on earth, was once the cultural and scholarship center of the world during the Islamic Golden Age.
Wk4m8 TIL that safflower, which has long been cultivated for food by humans, was sometimes also referred to as "bastard saffron"
n6JP TIL the “Alexandra Limp” was a short lived fad in Victorian London. Fashionable young women mimicked the limp of Princess Alexandra. Canny shopkeepers even started selling mismatched footwear, with one high heel, and one low. The practice was widely ridiculed, even at the time.
4Rg6 TIL China killed at least 800,000 of its own citizens when it purposefully opened dikes to flood the Yellow River.