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TIL about Black July. On 24 July 1983, anti-Tamil rioting started in the capital Colombo in Sri lanka and spread to other parts of the country. Over 7 days, Sinhalese mobs attacked, burned, looted, and killed thousands of Tamil targets. it is generally seen as the start of the Sri Lankan Civil War.

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1ayjO TIL the last words of William Chapman, who was unarmed with his hands up before being shot by a cop in front of a Wal-Mart were reportedly "Are you going to fucking shoot me?"
nlar TIL there may exist objects in our Universe that behave just the opposite of a black hole (a white hole). They cannot be entered from the outside, but matter and light can escape. The Big Bang might have been a white hole itself, and big bangs possibly occur at the center of all black holes.
epwZJ TIL in 1976 Muhammad Ali fought a MMA match against Antonio Inoki in Tokyo, Japan. Billed as The War Of The Worlds. The fight ended in a draw.
e0KP6 TIL an article in 1968 revealed widespread marijuana use among US soldiers in Vietnam. As a result of the media uproar stateside and subsequent crackdown by the army, soldiers shifted to heroin, which was odorless and harder to detect. By 1973, up to 20% of the soldiers were habitual heroin users.
NX45b TIL Organized cheerleading began in the 1870s as an all-male activity. Women weren't permitted to participate in cheerleading until 1923, with newspapers and manuals still referring to cheerleaders as "chap", "fellow", or "man" at the time.