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TIL, that between 1937 and 1938 111,091 ethnic Poles living in USSR were executed as spies. To speed up the process local telephone books were used to find Polish sounding names. Another 28,744 were sent to Gulags.

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nerkB TIL Chris Farley's last TV appearance was on an episode of All That in 1997 with Kenan Thompson
awD70 TIL that the first use of a detective in literature was used by Edgar Allan Poe. His short story, 'The Murders in the Rue Morgue', inspired the creation of Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot
Oae TIL: When the US Attorney-General asked for the power to prevent people on the terrorist watch list from buying guns, the US Congress answered with a firm “no”.
b8Ya TIL that during WWI, the United States attempted to change words that had German origins. Sauerkraut came to be called “liberty cabbage”, German measles became “liberty measles”, hamburgers became “liberty sandwiches”.
Wky88 TIL George Washington established the 'Contingency Fund for Foreign Intercourse', which funded spying operations in Europe. By 1793 it consumed 12% of the federal budget.