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TIL Over 100 Years Ago, the US Government Commissioned 7,500 Watercolor Paintings of Every Kind of Fruit in the Country

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yVOEe TIL of HMS Glowworm, a British destroyer that rammed its opponent in its final battle, the German heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper, a ship twice its length and ten times its displacement. The CO of Glowworm earned a posthumous Victoria Cross, partially on the recommendation of Admiral Hipper's captain.
ZK9R TIL Chunosuke Matsuyama, a Japanese Seamen, sent a message in a bottle in 1784 that his ship had wrecked. It washed up in 1935 in the village where he was born.
b6Q77 TIL in 1992, Jack Palance did one-arm pushups on the floor during his Best Supporting Actor Oscar acceptance speech to demonstrate his physical strength and counteract the view of some media executives who had not wanted to risk hiring elderly actors for fear they may die during filming.
loN8B TIL China's mass surveillance system, the largest and most intricate in the world, is literally called Skynet.
eENL TIL that a man named William Morgan was rejected from the Freemasons in the 1800s. In retaliation he planned to publish a book revealing their secrets. He disappeared and was never seen or heard from again.