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TIL in 2009 Canadian transport minister John Baird sent a text saying “Thatcher has died”. This information soon reached Canadian PM Stephen Harper with officials making multiple calls to Downing Street and Buckingham Palace before it was later confirmed that Thatcher was the name of Baird’s cat.

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gbJD TIL: When Edward I, King of England annexed Wales in 1277 AD, he promised them his son, and heir to the throne, would be Welsh. This is why the heir apparent in the UK is always titled “Prince of Wales” before taking the throne.
ZpVla TIL Micro & Nanoplastics Breach Blood–Brain Barrier in Mice 2 Hours After Ingestion
ANr9g TIL that Austrian schools and kindergartens keep a stockpile of potassium iodide pills in case of a nuclear disaster
0dRW5 TIL During WW2, Chinese forces opened the dikes on the Yellow River to slow the Japanese army. This resulted in an estimated 400,000 to 800,000 drownings and displaced millions. The course of the Yellow River moved several hundred kilometers.
LPLp TIL In the mid 1920’s the US Department of Prohibition ordered the poisoning of industrial alcohols, products regularly stolen and resold as drinkable spirits. They did this to scare people out of drinking and to track where speakeasies were located. The program killed an estimated 10,000 people.