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TIL Warner Bros. spent $30m developing the Tim Burton-directed Superman: Lives (with Nicolas Cage as the lead) before canceling it in 1998. Burton cited issues with Jon Peters "I basically wasted a year. A year is a long time to be working with somebody that you don't really want to be working with"

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D1mMr TIL Ethiopia sent troops to the Korean War as part of the UN Command. Known as the Kagnew Battalions, 3,158 men served, of which 121 were killed and 538 wounded. They were never defeated in battle and not a single soldier surrendered. They were also respected for never leaving their dead behind.
WkXQL TIL that 17th century pirate Laurens de Graaf married a woman after she threatened to shoot him for insulting her. She had challenged him to a duel to avenge her dead husband. When he drew his sword, she drew her gun. Laurens said he couldn’t fight a woman and proposed to her out of admiration.
nv7o TIL that the French held out at Fort Vaux against crushing German attacks for 3 days with no water. The commander sent requests for aid, the last one saying “This is my last pigeon”. The pigeon was awarded France’s highest military honour.
69QOX TIL a Fata Morgana is a complex form of superior mirage visible in a narrow band right above the horizon
w6o6 TIL during his time as President of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki banned the use of antiretroviral drugs in hospitals because he did not believe HIV caused AIDS. During his presidency over 330,000 people died of AIDS.