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TIL that the Thirty Year War may have began when Czech nobles threw two Habsburg regents and their secretary out of Prague castle window onto a huge dungheap.

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Mer0m TIL that Paulo Coelho, internationally famous author of The Alchemist, "pirates" his own works -- by publishing torrents of his own books on file-sharing sites -- because he discovered that torrenting his books on Bittorrent actually boosted sales of his books quite significantly.
GjBN TIL that John Scurlock, the man who invented safety air cushions to catch people jumping out of buildings during a fire, also invented the bouncy castle.
WkYNN TIL about the “Cornerstone Speech”, in which the Vice President of the Confederacy stated that the perpetuation of slavery was the primary goal and purpose of secession from the Union
lo11a TIL Australians don't traditionally celebrate Halloween, and its increasing popularity there is often considered to be an example of encroaching American cultural imperialism, despite it being a millennia-old Celtic European holiday
4mx5 TIL that the Church of Scientology has a “prison” that they keep underperforming members of the church in