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TIL that during the Cold War, Chairman Mao held meetings in his swimming pool to embarrass Nikola Khrushchev, who had to wear a floaty as he couldn’t swim. Khrushchev felt insulted and the incident furthered the deterioration of relations between the Soviet Union and China

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xV5Bb TIL that the suicide rate of boys ages 15-19 grew by 30 percent from 2007 to 2015. Academic issues, depression, and lack of self worth were among biggest causes of life cut short.
xV9Lo TIL that Paris holds an annual contest to find the city’s best baguette. Around 200 bakers each submit two baguettes (must be eligible) to be graded on quality, look, smell, taste, and crunch. The winner wins €4000 and a contract to supply the French president fresh baguettes every day for 1 year.
8NDG TIL: The Third World was so named during the Cold War to describe countries not aligned with the US or USSR, and had nothing to do with poverty
5VKPp TIL that Washington Irving the American creator of Sleepy Hollow was integral to popularizing our current understanding of not only Halloween, but also Christmas. His stories of a British manor at Christmas time would go on to inspire Charles Dickens.
8aErP TIL that in 1906 Eleanor Roosevelt bought a chicken-wire cage to hang out the window of her New York City townhouse for her first child, Anna, to nap in—a practice known as “airing” for city dwelling children