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TIL the United States actually achieved legal independence from Britain with the passage of the Lee Resolution, two days prior to the Declaration of Independence. Wrote John Adams: "The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America"

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XE5ER TIL that during WWI, British newspapers falsely claimed that the Germans rendered down soldiers' corpses to make soap, candles and nitroglycerin. As a result, when news of the Holocaust reached Britain during WWII, the government assumed it was another made-up atrocity story.
YBlr TIL The Act of Habeas Corpus 1679 was only just passed . When the votes were counted, there were not enough Lords in favour, so it was decided that one of the Lords, because he happened to be fat, was worth ten votes. It started as a joke, but remains on the statute books to this day.
Me8VA TIL about the Balearic Slingers. Little is know about these Light infantry mercenaries who fought against and then for the Roman Empire. Highly skilled and feared for their ability to strike down enemies up to 400 metres away, using ammunition made from stone, hardened clay or lead.
BDWW TIL of Cincinnati Freedom, a cow that jumped a 6 foot fence at a slaughterhouse in Cincinnati, only to evade police officers for 11 days, making national news headlines, and eventually living out the rest of its life in NY.
RxQQ TIL a group of firefighters buried themselves to survive a dangerous wildfire, then adopted a black bear cub who also survived and making him the real “Smokey the Bear.”