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TIL the reason drinking is so prevalent on Saint Patrick's Day is because St. Patrick died during lent and to celebrate his life properly, restrictions on eating and drinking alcohol were lifted for the day

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D61j TIL in 1956 French Prime Minister Guy Mollet proposed a union between the United Kingdom and France with Elizabeth II as head of state and a common citizenship
neZkd TIL there is a record for fastest mile run in Death Valley while wearing a Darth Vader suit. It is 6 minutes 13 seconds and was done by Jonathan Rice.
YpmwP TIL Motorola was the first company to produce a handheld mobile phone. The first call was from Martin Cooper (Motorola) to his rival Joel Engel (Bell Labs). The phone weighed 1.1kg, had talk time of 30 minutes and took 10 hours to recharge.
E1K6P TIL monks in Westminster Abbey would eat 6,000 calories a day normally and 4,500 a day when "fasting". They drank a gallon of beer and 10 oz of wine and ate 2.25 lbs of bread, 5 eggs, and 2 lbs of meat or fish a day. Many monks became obese and suffered related conditions.
6EY17 TIL that in the early 2000’s people complained that their Mac laptops mysteriously started giving off the smell of really bad body odor. Turns out the culprit was an adhesive used on the keyboards that started to break down after a few years, outgassing a foul smell in the process.