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TIL A German U-boat Captain improperly executed a toilet flush, leading to the sinking of his submarine.

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5YEon TIL the oldest mummies belong to the South American Chinchorro culture (nowadays northern Chile). The oldest anthropogenically modified Chinchorro mummy dates from around 5050 BCE, 2000+ years earlier than the earliest Egyptian mummy, which was found around 3000 BCE.
D1aGJ TIL in the 1950s and 60s Canada spent ‘thousands and thousands’ making a ‘gaydar’ to detect homosexual government employees
dPB8 TIL John Krasinski first met Matt Damon right after Matt filmed a kissing scene with Emily Blunt, John’s wife. Matt’s first words to John were “Hey man. I was just totally tonguing your girl.” They are now good friends.
WVGd TIL that a “jiffy” is an actual period of time, 33.3564 picoseconds. The amount of time it takes light to travel a centimeter.
9YAYB TIL Microsoft executives originally disliked the Xbox's name, and only left it on the prospective name list during focus testing to show how unpopular it would be. However, it ended up being much more popular than all the alternatives.