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TIL Sea mines off the coast of North Vietnam exploded spontaneously all at once; the cause, not determined until decades later, was a solar flare

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BMxe TIL that during the German occupation of Luxembourg, some Luxembourgish refused to give the Nazi salute. Instead of raising one’s arm while shouting “Heil Hitler” they shouted in a strong Luxembourgish accent “Drei Liter” which is German for “Three liters”
YY8v TIL that in c.1730, A french scholar named Louis de Jaucourt spent 20 years writing a six-volume work on anatomy. He sent it to be published in Amsterdam, but the ship carrying the sole manuscript sank.
bRvp TIL Philadelphia literally burns old money for electricity
ZpaWa TIL Eugénie de Montijo, Empress of the French, was a made a Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire her aid to the British during the First World War. Eugénie de Montijo donated her yacht to the war effort and funded hospitals in France.
WGb4 TIL that cannibalism was so normal in ancient Fiji that “Eat me!” was a proper ritual greeting from a commoner to a chief.