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TIL about Amy Beechey, a British mother who lost five of her eight sons during WWI. When she was presented to King George V and Queen Mary in April 1918, the Queen thanked her for her sacrifice. She replied: "It was no sacrifice, Ma'am - I did not given them willingly."

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VM6A8 TIL that in 430 B.C.: Athens, the earliest recorded pandemic happened during the Peloponnesian War. After the disease passed through Libya, Ethiopia and Egypt, it crossed the Athenian walls as the Spartans laid siege. As much as two-thirds of the population died.
yVjb8 TIL of gamma-ray bursts, immensely energetic explosions that occur when a giant star implodes and becomes a black hole. It can release as much energy in a few seconds as the Sun will in its entire 10-billion-year lifetime. It may also have caused a mass extinction on Earth 440 million years ago.
4Xe8o TIL that in the 80s, businessman Armand Hammer bought a significant portion of the company that makes "Arm & Hammer" products simply because people kept asking him about the name
LRLv TIL that the word “boycott” comes from 1880, when the Irish Land League refused to do business with a rent collector named Charles Boycott.
yAve TIL - “Growing the Beard” is the opposite of “Jumping the Shark”, it is the definitive moment when a TV series begins to become noticeably better in quality. The term stems from when Jonathan Frakes (Commander Riker) grew his beard between seasons one and two of Star Trek: TNG.