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TIL: At the second Tour de France, the first four finishers were disqualified because they took the train

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E1XJp TIL that despite the popular depiction in films and television, Manhattan has almost no alleys. The Commissioners Plan of 1811 designed the city's grid layout without alleyways to maximize the limited space. The few alleys that remain mostly predate that plan.
W7VPo TIL some of the last German Soldiers to fight the Red Army during the Battle of Berlin were in fact foreign volunteers of the Waffen SS. Frenchmen of the 33rd Charlemagne Division and Scandinavians of the 11th Nordland Division joined together as some of the last defenders of the Third Reich.
epvpn TIL in 2016 two teens died after ingesting a concoction known as 'Dewshine' (a mixture of Mountain Dew & racing fuel, which is virtually 100% methanol). These are the first reported deaths in the US associated with the mixture. Two other teens who also drank it became intoxicated, but survived.
1ayRd TIL The White House was completely gutted and reinforced with steel beams in 1949-50. It was only standing, in the words of the Public Buildings Administration commissioner, “by force of habit.”
W7MdY TIL The Grateful Dead song Eleven is called that because it is played in the time signature of 11/8