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TIL that in the War of 1812 when the British burned Washington D.C., British Admiral George Cockburn had his soldiers burn a newspaper printing house and ordered them to "Be sure that all the 'C's are destroyed, so that the rascals cannot any longer abuse my name."

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Oovag TIL: One person, the not-well-known General Leslie Groves, oversaw both the Manhattan Project (the WWII program to make an atomic bomb) and the construction of The Pentagon. An underling called him both "the biggest S.O.B. I have ever worked for" & the best possible person to run the A-bomb project.
R5xJl TIL William Waldorf Astor, America's richest man next to John D Rockefeller, had a feud with Aunt Lina that caused him to move to England. Linda insisted she was THE Mrs. Astor in New York society, not William's wife, and she was also mad that he built a the luxurious Waldorf Hotel near her mansion.
R7e08 TIL Princess Suriratna, also known as Heo Hwang-ok, went to Korea from India in 48 AD, some 2000 years ago, and started the Karak dynasty by marrying a local king. Historians say about 6 million Korean population (10% population) are descendants of the couple.
L5yZ TIL that Eratosthenes, along with countless other achievements, calculated the size of the earth in 240 BC using a stick, the shadow of the sun, and the known distance between Alexandria and Syene. He was off… by only 66 km.
Oo9lL TIL about The Blood Types Mosquitoes Find Most Appetizing. If you are Type O, tall and exercise a lot, you might find yourself the perfect victim for your local mosquitoes.