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TIL When the fork was first introduced as an eating implement it was normal for people to have their own knife and fork made which would be kept in a special box called a cadena. Whenever someone threw a dinner party or a feast all the guests would bring their own cadenas to eat with.

xmJo TIL Fred Phelps was excommunicated from Westboro Baptist Church before his death for having a change of heart about his religious beliefs and acknowledging the “Equality House,” a local LGBT support organization, as “good people.”
neaPG TIL from the 16th to 19th centuries the Ottoman Empire enslaved over 1 million Europeans from ship and coastal raids of Italy, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, France, England, and the Netherlands. Some slaves were even captured by European pirates who then sold them to the Ottomans.
e0G85 TIL: Chili peppers, whose spiciness is now so prominent in Indian, Chinese, Thai, and other Asian cuisines, originated in South America and were unknown in Asia until world-wide sea trade first brought them there the mid 1500's.
9jjp TIL Gary Powers survived being shot down in his U2 spy plane from 21km (70,000 feet) altitude over USSR in 1960, but he died after his news reporting chopper ran out of fuel over LA in California in 1977.
71nP TIL During WWI, On christmas of 1914, the british and germans lay down their weapons, crossed no man’s land, and joined each other to celebrate. They exchanged food, played games, sang songs, and even attended burials for each side. This was seen as a symbolic moment during the conflict.