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TIL that congressional approval for the first Gulf War was effected by the testimony of a Kuwaiti nurse who claimed to have witnessed Iraqi soldiers pulling babies out of incubators and throwing them on the floor to die. This never happened. The nurse was not a nurse. She was coached by a PR firm.

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XEY98 TIL "Raisin-BRAN" lost it's trademark in 1944 when a court ruled the name was too generic for trademark protection. Skinner Manufacturing Company introduced Raisin-BRAN in 1925 and enjoyed monopoly until 1942 when Post and Kellogg introduced competing products with the same name
4XP0X TIL that mosquitoes perform musical duets before mating.Male mosquitos "buzz" at between 550-650 Hertz while females buzz at about 350-450 Hz. When female mosquitos fly close to male mosquitos, they harmonize their wing flapping as a signifier of good health and fitness.If they can't,no copulation.
rmee TIL that James Earl Jones, the voice of Darth Vader, was functionally mute for 8 years when he was young.
PYDeG TIL that the flash from cameras does not harm artwork. In a 1995 study, the London National Gallery concluded that camera flash is dangerous after measuring the color change in test pigments that were exposed to over 1,000,000 flashes. However, the control group showed the same amount of change.
1a4N8 TIL: At the first major battle of the American Civil War, the wealthy elite of nearby Washington expected an easy Union victory. So much so that they brought their families to picnic and watch the battle.