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TIL that in 1996 a chemistry professor accidentally spilled a drop of organic mercury on her latex gloved hand. She died of mercury poisoning less than a year later.

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R56j TIL that someone had a baby three months premature– the baby was declared stillborn. . The mother, eager to at least see the baby 12 hours after the operation– found the baby alive. . nailed in a coffin, almost frozen inside the morgue.
6EZeW TIL Ivory Coast's Murielle Ahoure couldn’t find an Ivory Coast flag so she celebrated her 60m gold with Irish flag given to her by a spectator
90or TIL that Rodney Dangerfield’s signature line “I can’t get no respect” came to him after watching The Godfather in 1972. “All I heard was the word ‘respect’. You’ve got to give me respect, or 'Respect him.’ I thought to myself: It sounds like a funny image — a guy who gets no respect.”
0dvAA TIL "Union Pacific" retroactively won the first Palme d'Or. It was awarded by a jury in 2002, from a selection of films originally in competition at the cancelled 1939 Cannes Festival.
5a4R TIL Germany decided to retroactively pay pensions to african soldiers that served in the imperial colonial army. Claimants were handed a broom and ordered in German to perform the manual of arms. Not one of them failed the test.