› added 11 years ago

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TIL from 1575 to 1578, expeditions from England to Canada brought back thousands of tonnes of black rock at huge expense of money and lives, after a Venetian alchemist lied about it containing gold ore. After discovering the true worth, it was used to build a wall around one of Henry VIII’s homes.

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ygdJ TIL that during the Berlin Blockade in 1948 a pilot who was doing supply drops for the civilians became known as ‘Uncle Wiggly Wings’ after he started dropping candy and chocolate from his plane and wiggling his wings so people knew it was him.
QJglk TIL of Oskar Gröning, a German soldier who worked at Auschwitz but was able to hide it for 40 years. However, he decided to publish his story after meeting a Holocaust denier, even though he was incriminating himself by doing so.
KrgQ TIL over 30% of pharmaceuticals sold in developing countries are counterfeit. Roughly 50% of malaria drugs and up to 30% of antibiotics are counterfeit, mostly originating from India. Over 700,000 people die every year from consuming counterfeit drugs.
R7pE7 TIL that after the Great Fire of Rome during the reign of Nero, Lyons sent Rome a large sum of money to help. A year later, Lyons itself suffered a great fire, and Nero send them the same amount of money.
N7nNe TIL that the Yoruba people of Nigeria have among the highest birthrates of twins in the world, but that a specific town in the country - Igbo-Ora - produces more twins than anywhere in the world. So many twins are born in Igbo-Ora that the town holds a festival to celebrate them.