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TIL that the Royal Navy launched a massive sting operation to stop Napoleon escaping to the United States, after the Battle of Waterloo.

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e06eb TIL that Shakespeare used cocaine and marijuana. Researchers at a forensic lab examined 24 clay pipes excavated from the Bard's garden and found traces of cannabis in 9 of them, while 2 tested for cocaine. Surprisingly, nicotine was only found in one of the artifacts.
neQeP TIL vegetables are any part of a plant that is consumed by humans or other animals as food, which means from a botany perspective "there is no such thing as a vegetable."
wonAM TIL New York mobster, Joe Gallo was a diagnosed schizophrenic, watercolor painter, and avid reader of classic literature, who paraded his pet lion around the city. He kidnapped his own bosses, sparked two gang wars, and was killed on his birthday, in 1972. And Bob Dylan wrote a song about him.
oBpLE TIL the United States only lost 1 of its first 50 conflicts. Every other war was either a US victory or had no clear victor. The first official defeat was in Red Cloud's War (1866) against the Lakota Tribe. Since then, the US has lost 5 out of 65 conflicts, for a total 95% win rate.
8e0kZ TIL of the "Casu martzu" - a sardinian fermented sheep cheese that has live maggots in it. It's considered unsafe to eat if the maggots have died, and is served alongside strong red wine. The larvae in the cheese can launch themselves distances up to 15 centimetres when disturbed.