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TIL that Louis IX of France, also known as Saint Louis, was viewed as “primus inter pares” (first among equals) among the kings and rulers of Europe as he commanded the largest army and ruled the largest and wealthiest kingdom, the centre of European art and intellectual thought at the time.

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6RK8 TIL A WWII messenger pigeon named GI Joe was awarded a bravery medal for “Making the 20 mile flight from British 10th Army HQ, in the same number of minutes … just in time to save the lives of at least 100 Allied soldiers” 31 other pigeons have been awarded for bravery during service.
9GrQ TIL that the Beijing Weather Modification Office is tasked with creating rain to end drought, reduce dust storms and prevent unwanted rain, and that between 1995 and 2003, China added 7.4 trillion cubic feet of rainfall artificially.
0vL TIL Sir Patrick Stewart and Sir Ian McKellen didn’t know how to play chess until they learned it to shoot X-Men.
1aY7P TIL that in the early 2000s iG, one of Brazil's largest web portals, decided to have a "Good News Day" to improve the perception of the media as bearer of bad news. The previous day, they annouced it would start on 9/11/2001. It only lasted a few hours.
mknx TIL: The “&” used to be the 27th letter of the alphabet. It got its name from children slurring the ending of the alphabet song together so “and per se and” became “ampersand”