› added 11 years ago

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TIL Stephen Hawking pulled out of conference in Israel hosted by president Shimon Peres in protest at treatment of Palestinians

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OG6J6 TIL Humphrey Bogart was an avid chess player and often played correspondence chess with soldiers overseas during World War II. In 1943, the FBI told him to stop doing so after they intercepted his mail believing the chess notations to be secret codes.
epPdL TIL: According to a 2012 census, the largest ethnic group in Guyana (almost 40%) and Suriname (over 27%) are of Indian heritage. Not indigenous "Indians." People from actual India.
4kDQJ TIL that there will be no Hanukkah in the year 3031, but two Hanukkahs in 3032. This is due to the overlap between the Jewish and Gregorian calendars, as well as the leap month added to the Jewish calendar.
EgMlX TIL about John L Burns, a 70-year-old veteran of the war of 1812 who was caught in the crossfire during the battle of Gettysburg in 1863; after being released from his confederate prison, he promptly arrested the traitorous stragglers and took up his flintlock against the rest.
xVxdD TIL Siegfried and Roy were fired from their first gig together for bringing a live cheetah on a cruise ship.