› added 6 years ago

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TIL of Märket, a tiny island divided by the finnish-swedish border. When the finns inadvertedly built a lighthouse on the wrong side of the border, the swedes agreed to trade it for an equal spot of land on the other side, causing the border to zig-zag.

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A6vw TIL In 1942 Hitler met with Mannerheim in an attempt to get Finnish support against the Soviets. Mannerheim lit a cigar and when Hitler (who was known to hate smoking) did not complain, he interpreted it as a sign of weakness and did not agree to the request.
jNe8p TIL in the Phillipines, "some Catholics are voluntarily, non-lethally crucified for a limited time on Good Friday to imitate the sufferings of Christ. Pre-sterilised nails are driven through the palm of the hand between the bones, while there is a footrest to which the feet are nailed."
EEGP TIL that when he was challenged to a duel by Prussian statesman Otto von Bismarck in 1885, scientist Rudolf Virchow selected two pork sausages as the weapons to be used.
KYGe4 TIL that in addition to being the youngest EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony) winner, fastest to achieve EGOT, and only EGOT winner twice over, songwriter Robert Lopez (who wrote music for such works as Disney's Frozen) broke the previous record of fastest to achieve EGOT previously held by...himself.
d8pBd TIL Myrmica sabuleti, or the Myrmica Ant, is often tricked by a caterpillar species that pretends to be ant larvae. It waits on a thyme leaf until the ants spot it and carry it to their nest, where it then feeds on ant grubs for the next 10 months before emerging as a Large Blue butterfly.