› added 1 month ago

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TIL that North Korea made their exchange rate against the dollar at 2.16 because of Kim Jong Il's birthday on 16 February

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PYJaV TIL that in addition to being the second largest country in Africa, the Democratic Republic of Congo is also the world's second largest French-speaking country with its capital, Kinshasa, being the largest French-speaking city.
gEG7 TIL there is a grove of 16 olive trees in Lebanon that are at least 5,000 years old. They still produce olives and you can purchase olive oil made from them.
7r6BZ TIL: In Russian Orthodoxy, the patron saint of Russia’s nuclear weapons is St. Seraphim.
neNnP TIL Saburō Sakai, a Japanese WWII fighter ace, was shot through his goggle by a turret gunner. The 7.62 mm bullet passed through his brain, blinding one eye and paralyzing one side of his body. Despite this, he landed his plane and returned to battle a year later.
YperP TIL that astronauts in orbit are not weightless because they escaped the Earth's gravity, but because they are in free-fall. The ISS at 400KM altitude still experiences around 90% of the Earth's gravity.