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TIL that former German chancellor Helmut Schmidt was a heavy smoker. He was well known for lighting up during TV interviews and talk shows. He was also charged with defying smoking bans. In 1981 he got a pacemaker. Despite these he died as the longest living chancellor at the age of 96.

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xl1k TIL that a ship abandoned off the coast of Alaska in 1931 was spotted, still adrift in the Arctic, in 1969
6wLw TIL of 1177 BC: The year that civilization collapsed. In a short period of time all empires along the Mediterranean collapsed violently;including the Egyptian, Hittite, and Mycenaean empires.Almost every significant city in the eastern Mediterranean world was destroyed, and historians don’t know why
grwXD TIL that the Sam Kee Building, recognized by Guinness World Records as the world's narrowest commercial building, was built after its owner bet a business associate that he could make use of the 6 ft (1.5 m) wide strip of land he had left after the city took 79% of his land without compensating him.
J4ZV TIL the first recorded use of the word “crunk” was by Dr. Seuss in 1972
69Wkm TIL that cartoon depictions of the sawfish having a sharp cutting snout are more reality than fantasy. While myths about cutting ship hulls are untrue, bad injuries result for boat crews. If caught the animal intentionally tries to cut humans. (More cool bio stuff sprinkled through rest of article.)