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TIL France, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands used GMT prior to WW2. The Germans changed them all to Berlin Time (GMT +1h) during the occupation and they never switched back. [Spain also changed in solidarity with Germany.]

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gMly9 TIL the plasma globe was invented accidentally by an MIT undergrad, who was working in a lab to create electrical rocket engines. Right after inventing it, he naturally brought it to his girlfriend's house party.
VZpp TIL that comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 collided with Jupiter in 1994, after being broken apart from Jupiter’s tidal gravity. One fragment struck the planet’s surface with the estimated energy of 6 million megatons of TNT (600 times the world’s nuclear arsenal) and created a dark spot over 12,000 km across.
jmlN TIL After accepting a role in ‘The Girl from Petrovka’ Anthony Hopkins set out to find the book. Unable to find any for sale, he spotted one on a park bench and snagged it. Two years later he was speaking with the author, who lamented having lost his copy with notes. The same copy Sir Hopkins found.
Y77j7 TIL the terms Latino/Latina came from the French word Amérique Latine. Coined by Napoleon III, it was used in an effort to imply cultural kinship to Mexico and justify French intervention as well as to combat the ever growing Anglo-Saxon presence in America.
p8l7e TIL Marvel Super Hero Island at Universal's Islands of Adventure had a scarezone during the 2002 Halloween Horror Nights, where superheroes were killed in horrific ways and villains took over the island. Marvel officials were angry after finding out and the scarezone was never used again after 2002.