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TIL that when Napoleon surrendered after Waterloo he assumed he would be allowed to see out his exile comfortably as a foreign monarch in Britain, writing to the Prince Regent to ask "for a country house ‘about ten or twelve leagues from London – a big enough house to accommodate all my suite’."

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wLJEE TIL the I-710 freeway in Los Angeles was never finished because of opposition by residents in South Pasadena
l7o45 TIL of Thomas Chapple, a 19th century sailor, who is believed to have contributed to the near-extinction of two species after lighting a fire as a prank.
pYnKQ TIL that lawyer Garry Hoy, in an attempt to demonstrate to his students that their office building's windows were unbreakable, threw himself against a window. The glass did not break but the window frame gave way, causing him to fall 24 stories to his death.
9w6Z6 TIL During the first dive to the bottom of the Mariana Trench, one of the outer window panes on the bathysphere cracked. They opted to continue, and successfully reached the bottom.
axJA TIL that at one point, Blockbuster was growing so fast that it was opening a new store every 17 hours