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TIL the website hampsterdance.com was created in 1998 as a result of a competition between two Canadian sisters to see who could generate the most traffic and is one of the earliest examples of an internet meme.

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Bgv0b TIL in 1990, a Domino's Pizza owner in Washington DC noticed a record-breaking number of pizza orders from the Pentagon leading up to the Invasion of Kuwait. Similar increases happened leading up the Panama Invasion and Grenada Invasion; the intelligence leakage became known as The Pizza Meter
x6p6g TIL that in the Battle of the Nile, Admiral Francois-Paul Brueys's hands, face, and arms were mauled by cannonfire: he continued to command, when a cannonball severed both his legs. He then ordered his men to strap him to an armchair and continued to order his men until his ship, L'Orient, blew up.
5V98r TIL During the shooting event of the 1965 World Pentathlon Championships, Herbert Polzhuber drank 10 glasses of beer and a bottle of cognac, stepped onto the shooting platform, shot all his bullets directly into the ground and passed out. Alcohol would be banned from shooting events shortly after.
YVdv TIL The Mona Lisa wasn’t famous until it was stolen from the Louvre in 1911.
RDd8 TIL of the german word “Bulimielernen” [= bulimia learning]. It describes the brainless activity of having to learn a lot of useless stuff in a short time, and “puking” the knowledge into an exam, so it is gone afterwards