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TIL In 1376, the Pope excommunicated the entire Florentine government, banned the city from all religious activity, sanctioned florentine companies abroad by forbiding christians from dealing with them and made it legal for all christians, anywhere, to capture or enslave florentine citizens

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QJxRX TIL that the "Immortals" name given to the elite army of the Achaemid Empire is due to the fact that every dead or wounded Immortal was immediately replaced by another and that they all wore the same mask, which gave the illusion that it was always the same soldiers coming back.
kOGgE TIL the modern wingsuit was invented by a French skydiver and base jumper, Patrick de Gayardon, who was also the 1st man to exit and return to the same aircraft in flight without a parachute
neDXd TIL about The Independent, the tallest building in Austin, Texas. It has been nicknamed the "Jenga Tower" and the "Tetris Tower" due to the unique design of “overhanging / suspended” sections
rW0x TIL Paul Revere never actually said “The British are coming!”. The operation was meant to be conducted as discreet as possible and colonial Americans at the time still considered themselves British.
Z84EG TIL in 1996, David Bowie released the first downloadable song by a major artist (it took 11 minutes to download). He later launched an ISP (BowieNet) to compete with AOL. Subscribers to the dial-up service were offered exclusive content, as well as an email address and "uncensored" Internet access.