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TIL In the 1930s, sequins were made of gelatin coated in lead paint, and could melt if they were touched or dissolved if wet.

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DQodj TIL The M-497 Black Beetle was an experimental jet-powered railcar test bed of the NY Central Railroad, developed and tested in 1966 in the USA. Even with this spectacular performance, and being built relatively cheaply using existing parts, the project wasn't considered viable commercially.
4XrRb TIL there is a sculpture on the grounds of the CIA which I has four encrypted messages. The last of them has not been solved in 30 years.
dDvk8 TIL the Free French general Henri Giraud resented the British so much, he refused to board the escape submarine HMS Seraph. Thus the submarine became USS Seraph, received an American co-captain, and the crew affected American accents.
Meke8 TIL in one of Robin William’s last films, The Angriest Man in Brooklyn, his character Henry stated that his tombstone would read "1951-2014”. Coincidentally, Robin Williams was born in 1951, and died in 2014.
P14JV TIL that the first footage of a real war was shot by Frederick Villiers during the Battle of Volos in 1897