› added 6 years ago

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TIL In 1888, the train carrying the Russian Imperial Family derailed. Emperor Alexander III used his massive physical strength to lift the collapsed roof of the dining car so his family could escape. However, the blunt force trauma on his kidneys caused the nephritis which killed him 6 years later.

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rL7y TIL on March 9-10, 1945, 300 B29 bombers dropped nearly 500,000 cylinders of napalm and petroleum jelly on Tokyo creating a 40-sq-km firestorm that killed over 100,000 and maimed another million. It was the most destructive single bombing in history, including Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombs.
Y7eA7 TIL After the release of the 1996 film Scream, which involved an anonymous killer calling and murdering his victims, Caller ID usage increased by 300% in the United States.
ONe7 TIL the 1978 “UFO abduction” of Frederick Valentich has been solved: out searching for UFOs, the inexperienced pilot saw “4 points of light of an elongated UFO”. Recent astronomical simulations show a perfect diamond formed by Mercury, Venus, Mars and nearby star Antares.
WkWg8 TIL during various historical periods, competing instrumentalists tried to produce a more "brilliant" sound, creating "pitch inflation". At the start of the 17th century, pitch levels became so high that singers had severe throat strain, and lutenists and viol players complained of snapped strings
99mQ TIL the Hawaiian Pizza was invented in Canada, and is the most popular pizza in Australia, accounting for 15% of pizza sales.