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TIL a Slovenian man named Martin Strel has swum the complete lengths of the Danube River, the Mississippi River, the Yangtze River, and the Amazon River.

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d8lOK TIL Courtroom drawing as we know it in the United States was born in response to the 1935 media circus over the kidnapping and killing of aviator Charles Lindbergh’s infant son. The American Bar Association put forth a ban on cameras—leaving news outlets to seek alternate means of coverage.
66Rm TIL India Pale Ale(IPA) was invented not because they thought it taste better or was of better quality than other Ales, it was just the only way they could make beer that would survive the boat trip to India.
y4dw TIL that Manfred von Richthofen (the Red Baron) was killed by a shot from the ground, rather than Captain Arthur “Roy” Brown, who was credited for the kill.
wLAr8 TIL During the terrifying cholera epidemic of 1835–1836, the island of Sardinia was the only Italian region to escape cholera, thanks to surveillance by armed men who had orders to prevent, by force, any ship that attempted to disembark persons or cargo on the coast
NXwGQ TIL Louis B. Mayer created the AMPAS (which runs the Oscars) to curb unions, and created the awards ceremony because "I found that the best way to handle [filmmakers] was to hang medals all over them... If I got them cups and awards they’d kill themselves to produce what I wanted."