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TIL Tadeusz Kosciuszko, a Polish war hero who helped win the American Revolutionary War, left his property in the USA to be sold to educate and free Thomas Jefferson’s and other slaves. As executor, Jefferson never acted on the will and no slaves were freed.

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kOwQd TIL Winnie-the-Pooh was a real bear. A veterinarian purchased a black bear cub from a hunter on his way to WWI. He named her Winnie for his hometown Winnipeg. Before shipping off to the front, he left her at the London Zoo, where she caught the affection of Christopher Robin, author A.A.Milne's son.
e0YQ5 TIL in 1974, drinkers in a British pub were bemoaning the fact that the UK didn't produce world champions, so they invented a sport that no one else knew about: toe wrestling. In 1976, a Canadian visitor competed and won, so with the point of the sport gone, the "World Championship" was discontinued
E1Kv0 TIL Scientists trained 17 rats to drive tiny cars; each rat stood on the aluminum floor of the car & gripped copper bars with their paws to complete a circuit to propel the car. By touching left/center/right on the bar, rats could steer to pick up rewards of Froot Loops morsels in the arena.
kJ6bd TIL 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas is a nuclear bomb research and waste site that has detonated over a 1000 nuclear bombs between 1951-1992. It is one of the most contaminated places in the US. The site offers monthly public tours.
VB0Wp TIL about Georges Ruggiu. A Belgian civil servant, who at 35 moved to Rwanda, become a radio presenter for the ruling party (despite not speaking the native language) and demonised the Tutsis, which ended in their genocide.