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TIL. The Margraviate of Brandenburg, an impoverished electorate of the Holy Roman Empire, tried colonizing Africa in the late 17th century.

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WJ9A TIL: In the Dr. Seuss movie “The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T”, one of the 150 boys vomited on the piano while filming. This caused a chain reaction resulting in 150 vomiting boys. Dr. Seuss said that the film’s reviews were similar.
Lk6pZ TIL in 1993, Canada’s peacekeeping force in Somalia, the Airborne Regiment, brutally tortured and murdered a teenager. Once they returned, they were prosecuted, the regiment disbanded, and Canada’s military spending was reduced by 25%.
Oo0p6 TIL that Dan Aykroyd got into the "We are the World" video because he walked into the wrong place.
xMxD TIL fresh snow absorbs sound, lowering ambient noise over a landscape because the trapped air between snowflakes attenuates vibration. That’s why it gets so quiet when it snows.
jW9p TIL Universal Studios, Inc sued Sony and its distributors in 1976, alleging that because Sony was manufacturing a device (Betamax) that could be used for copyright infringement, they were thus liable for any infringement committed by its purchasers. Essentially trying to kill videotape recording.