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TIL Operation Fantasia. Because a fox-shaped spirit is an omen of doom in Japanese folklore, the U.S. developed a psychological warfare campaign during WWII that included a plan to release foxes sprayed with glow-in-the-dark paint in Japan. It was never executed.

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ne96W TIL restaurants during the German hyperinflation of the 1920s, a waiter would stand up on a table every 30 minutes to call out the new prices.
ney6d TIL that Napoleon's first language was not French. He grew up speaking Corsican and Italian and did not learn French until age 10. Throughout his life he spoke French with a heavy Corsican/Italian accent and never mastered French spelling.
j6M6M TIL the falling out between Rudolf and Adi Dassler which led to the creation of Adidas and Puma, took place during a 1943 Allied bombing attack when Adi said "here are the bloody bastards again" referring to the Allied war planes, but Rudolf was convinced Adi meant him and his family
8aWE4 TIL of Koča Popović, a Yugoslav politician and Spanish Civil War veteran who is referred to as "The man who saved the Partisans" because of his breakthrough plans during Operation Southeast Croatia and at the Battle of Sutjeska both of which could have led to the annihilation of the resistance.
vPy4r TIL: Thanks to poor internal communication at NASA, information about a spacesuit water leak wasn't properly communicated. Later, Astronaut Luca Parmitano almost drowned on a July, 2013 ISS space walk, his helmet filling with several liters of water before they could get him back inside.