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TIL 20 people were killed at an Italian ski resort in 1998 when a US Marine Corps aircraft, flying over 1,600 feet below minimum height standards, cut the cable supporting their gondola. The pilot was acquitted of manslaughter, and the United States reimbursed 75% of Italy's victim compensation fund

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5VWKD TIL that the English town of Washington, Tyne and Wear celebrates the Fourth of July as it's the ancestral home of the Washington family
X0oV6 TIL about Jackie Mitchell, a 17-year-old female pitcher for the Chattanooga Lookouts Class AA minor league baseball team. During an exhibition game against the New York Yankees in 1931, Mitchell struck out both Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in succession.
a8kxL TIL In 1914 astronomers at the Royal Observatory made a careful study of the transit of Mercury in order to determine whether Mercury had any moons and essentially proved that the planet has no moon
LkJ5Z TIL before his murder spree that resulted in the deaths of 16 people, Charles Whitman left a note requesting an autopsy to see if there was a biological explanation for his actions, and increasingly intense headaches. The autopsy performed found that he a "pecan-sized," brain tumor.
E1BEd TIL that Prince Andrew Andreevich Romanov, the heir to the former Russian monarchy, is an artist currently living in California