› added 1 year ago

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TIL China built bootleg versions of many European cities, such as Paris (Tianducheng)

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LkARp TIL that James Monroe is the only person in US history to serve in two cabinet positions simultaneously. He served as both Secretary of State and Secretary of War during the War of 1812.
RWd4 TIL in 1972 a pocket of uranium in Africa was found to have undergone self-sustaining nuclear fission for over 100,000 years, making it the only known naturally formed nuclear reactor.
wLZXJ TIL a trial by combat in medieval France took place between a King's bodyguard and a Greyhound. The Greyhound attacked the guard in the street so often that people suspected he had murdered the dog's owner. He confessed when the greyhound pinned him to the ground in the duel and was hung.
m1JKy TIL Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt I was born in Staten Island in 1794, and by the time he died in 1877, played a major role in America’s rise as an industrial power. He began his transportation empire with a small sailboat in new york Harbor ferrying people from S.I. to Manhattan
JYm4Q TIL Larry Thomas, the actor who played the Soup Nazi on 'Seinfeld', auditioned in a military uniform in character. He was nominated for an Emmy for the role after paying the $100 application fee himself.