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TIL JFK’s senior thesis, which defends Britain’s pre-WWII actions, actions JFK’s father, Ambassador to Britain at the time, supported, sold 80000 copies. Political theorist Harold Laski declined writing a foreword, stating the book was immature and only being published because of the writer's father

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M7A7B TIL the Byzantine Emperor had an elite personal guard (The Varangians) composed of Norsemen, Rus, and Anglo-Saxons who emigrated to Constantinople.
7rv5b TIL that Toxoplasmosis, a parasite affecting cats and mice, removes mice fear of cats. This allows the mice to be eaten by cats, thus transmitting the parasite to the cat and completing its life cycle.
Z84aG TIL Astronomers discovered a "zombie" star that went supernova in 1954...then exploded again in 2014. According to the study's lead author, "This supernova breaks everything we thought we knew about how they work."
M74Em TIL about Ruritanian romance, a genre of literature, film Etc. with stories set in a fictional country, usually in the Balkan, Central or Eastern Europe. Used f.ex. in 'Prisoner of Zelda', 'Duck Soup', 'Pale fire', 'King in New York', 'Castle of Cagliostro', 'Grand Budapest Hotel'.
Z8D9Y TIL that the Shakers, a celibacy-focused sect similar to the Quakers, has only 2 members left worldwide.