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TIL that the U.S. government produced 500,000 Purple Heart medals to prepare for the 1945 invasion of Japan. When the operation never took place, the medals were placed in storage and distributed. All military action since then (including Korea and Vietnam) still has not depleted the supply.

R7kal TIL Days before his death Edgar Allan Poe was found delirious on the streets of Baltimore and how he came to be like this has remained a mystery. It’s been suggested he may have been a victim of “cooping” in which unwilling participants are drugged and forced to vote for a particular candidate..
16x68 TIL when German-occupied Denmark held the 1943 Folketing election, the Danish Nazi Party only won 3 seats.
GAmK1 TIL Quisling is a term used in English to mean a citizen or politician of an occupied country who collaborates with an enemy occupying force – or more generally as a synonym for traitor or collaborator. The word originates from surname of the Norwegian war-time leader Vidkun Quisling.
oakE TIL that US election day is always held on a Tuesday because in 1845 farmers often needed a full day to travel by horse-drawn vehicles to the county seat to vote. Farmers would leave Monday, vote on Tuesday and be back in time for market day, which was on Wednesday.
POoL TIL that the human brain is not as firm as we like to think it is sometimes. It’s actually the consistency of Jell-O. (Warning: real human brain and a little bit of blood).