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TIL author Honoré de Balzac, best known for The Human Comedy, wrote a fanfiction sequel to the Gothic novel Melmoth the Wanderer by Charles Maturin

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Z8NMR TIL the united states staged a WWII campaign in Tokyo which involved firebombing highly populated areas in order to pressure Japan into surrender. The death toll was greater than that of the atomic bomb in Nagasaki. The attacks are considered the most deadly bombing attacks in history.
xVaMg TIL that after a screening of Pink Floyd The Wall, Steven Spielberg turned to the head of Warner Brothers and said “What the fuck was that?”
W7ZLB TIL That Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, commander of the 54th Massachusetts portrayed in the movie 'Glory', was buried with his troops in a mass grave at Fort Wagner upon his death. Though the Confederates did so as an insult Shaw's family and friends believed he would have considered it an honor.
N7EON TIL about Emilie du Châtelet, a scientist who in 1749 feared that bearing a child at 42 would be the last thing she did. She worked furiously on a magnum opus that would eventually change the world of physics. Within days of completing her work, she gave birth to a daughter and died soon after.
yVPWe TIL of Jon-Erik Hexum, an actor who was fooling around with a gun between delays on a TV set in 1984. He jokingly raised the gun to his head and said “Can you believe this crap?” before pulling the trigger and blowing his skull open with the explosion of the blank at close range.