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TIL Krystyna Skarbek, sometimes referred to as "Greatest female spy of WWII" was the first female agent of the British to serve in the field and the longest-serving of all Britain's wartime women agents. Abandoned by the British after WW2 she had to fight for recognition and British citizenship.

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KElE TIL if you polish an ancient sword that’s been used in battle, even a 2000 year old sword, it literally bleeds out the blood of the people it’s been used on, which “smells like a steak cooking”.
N7aQM TIL Quantum Immortality is a thought experiment according to which self conscious beings cannot experience death. According to the experiment, the self conscious being’s mind would just switch to another reality in which its death did not occur.
LvDm TIL the Rolling Stone review for Abbey Road said, “Surely they must have enough talent and intelligence to do better than this,” calling songs on it “so heavily overproduced that they are hard to listen to.” It was later listed #14 on Rolling Stone’s 500 greatest albums list.
rNM4x TIL that Robert De Niro originally auditioned for the role of Sonny in The Godfather, but lost the part to James Caan. De Niro later went on to win an Oscar for playing young Vito Corleone in The Godfather Part II.
0wJdR TIL the pocket calculator, patented in 1967, was one of the earliest uses of rechargable batteries. One of the creators, Jerry Merryman, saw it not just as a pocket calculator, but as an "electionic revolution," bringing buttons, thermal printing, and rechargable batteries to the forefront.