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TIL Kim Jong-il didn't understand that movies were fictional. He liked James Bond, Rambo, and Hong Kong action movies, but would watch them "as if they were records of reality."

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7re7O TIL that airplanes will perform a "fuel dump" if they need to land earlier than expected. This is because airplanes can take off with more weight than they can land with, and the fuel makes of 80% of the aircraft's weight at takeoff.
LkBgm TIL the word punch is a loanword from Sanskrit (pañc), meaning “five.” The drink was originally made with five ingredients: alcohol, sugar, lemon, water, and tea or spices
L91V TIL, every year on August 5th the Mars Curiosity rover is programmed to sing itself happy birthday
R7PjQ TIL that in 1996, an American citizen swam across a Chinese river into North Korea on a drunken dare. He got caught, was held and imprisoned under suspicion of being a spy, but was eventually released back to the U.S. He committed suicide a few weeks later.
ADOOd TIL Dirk Willems was jailed for his devotion to being an Anabaptist. He escaped from prison, but when the guard pursuing him fell through the ice, but Willems turned around to save the guard. Because of this act of heroism, the guard recaptured Willems, and Willems was burned at the stake.