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TIL the earliest known toy trains were made in the 1850s and powered by alcohol fires and real steam. They had the tendency to start house fires due to their fuel leaking and igniting when the toy fell over. Earlier models had no safety valves and would explode due to excess boiler pressure.

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19eX TIL bananas naturally produce a small amount of ionizing radiation, equaling 0.1 microsieverts. Large shipments of bananas are capable of setting off nuclear weapons radiation monitors at shipping ports.
oRA7R TIL that Bullerby syndrome is a term referring to an idealization of Sweden, which may occur in German-speaking Europe. It consists of a stereotypical image of Sweden, usually with positive associations, including wooden houses, clear lakes, green forests, elk, happy people, and midsummer sunshine.
OoYgR TIL Marcel Marceau first used mime was during WWII to keep Jewish children quiet while he helped them escape from occupied France to neutral Switzerland
kOAje TIL of the Einstein Cross. It's a quasar directly behind a galaxy and due to gravitational lensing, it appears as 4 images of the quasar around the galaxy
Lamp TIL Beethoven was once challenged to an improvisation contest by a famous pianist named Daniel Steibelt, Beethoven took the piece Steibelt’s music was written on, turned it upside down, played it, then improvised on that and mocked Daniel through his own music. Daniel left halfway through.