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TIL that 'Arniston', a British East India Company sailing ship, shipwrecked with the loss of 372 lives because the ship owners refused to buy a marine chronometer; an easy and cheap addition to her equipment.

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8eynP TIL that Robert Frost was to read "Dedication" at the inauguration of JFK, a poem he had composed for the occasion, but due to the brightness of the sunlight he was unable to see the text, so he recited another poem of his "The Gift Outright" by memory instead.
9wy0D TIL that since 1945, the Netherlands has sent Canada thousands of tulips every year as a thank-you for sheltering their royal family during WWII. This annual gift led to the creation of the famous Canadian Tulip Festival.
69Law TIL 'Dr. Death' Harold Shipman, a GP in the UK, was convicted of murdering 15 patients and is suspected of killing over 250.
Zp90R TIL that despite the second X chromosome being thought of as totally inactivated in XX cells, ~15% of genes escape silencing. These same genes are present on the Y chromosome, ensuring they are always bi-allelically expressed.
MeYg7 TIL Daniel "Chappie" James Jr. was an American fighter pilot in the U.S. Air Force and the first African American to reach the rank of four-star general. During the Vietnam War he served under Colonel Robin Olds and together they were known as "Blackman and Robin"