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TIL that there is an unusual instrument called the celeste/celesta which looks like a piano, but has metal plates like a xylophone, instead of strings, inside. This instrument is what gives the Nutcracker's Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies, and the Harry Potter theme, their distinct sound.

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JdAB TIL in 1968, a car driven by bank employees was pulled over by a motorcycle cop claiming the car had been rigged with a bomb. The cop got under the car to “defuse” the device. When the car started to smoke, everybody ran. Then the “cop” just drove the car away. The 300M Yen robbery remains unsolved
78RyL TIL Belavezhskaya Pushcha National Park's 1300 sq km of primeval forest is the last remains of a canopy that eight centuries ago covered northern Europe. Its 300 or so European bison were driven to near extinction before being bred back from 12 animals
eDg4 TIL a Buddhist monk who burned himself in front of the Cambodian embassy named Thich Quang Duc, when re-cremated after burning, his heart remained in tact.
OoQBL TIL: Joshua Bell, one of the top violinists in the world played during rush hour in a DC metro station on his 3.5 million dollar violin. He acted like a normal street performer, It was an experiment to see if normal people would notice his musical talent. They did not.
xlpk TIL L. Ron Hubbard considered himself a nuclear physicist, though “His university records indicate that his exposure to ‘nuclear physics’ consisted of one class in 'atomic and molecular phenomena’ for which he earned an 'F’ grade.”