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TIL a madman in San Francisco declared himself, “Emperor of America and Protector of Mexico.” The people were such good sports about it that they honored his regal decrees and the currency he created was widely accepted around the city. 30,000 attended his funeral

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yVn6a TIL Bowditch's American Practical Navigator, an encyclopedia of navigation, has been in print since 1802. It is so popular that it's colloquially referred to after it's original author "Bowditch". In 1867 the US government bought the copyright and has published 52 editions of it since then.
b9va7 TIL that deceased Tibetan Buddhists are given a “sky burial” in which the body is folded in half, walked to the burial site on someone’s back, and then dismembered and fed to vultures. There is no wood for a cremation, and the ground is too hard to dig due to the high altitude they live in.
gMwG4 TIL that Charles Young was the third African-American graduate of the United States Military Academy, the first black U.S. national park superintendent, first black military attaché, first black man to become a colonel in the United States Army, and highest-ranking black officer in the regular army
Pk0G TIL the release of Halo 2 for the PC was delayed because one of the developers put a picture of his butt in the game.
7rn7b TIL that traditional seven-point piñatas are meant to represent the seven deadly sins, and that the treats that fall out after destroying the “sins” represent forgiveness and new beginnings.