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TIL that during the Normandy Allied Invasion Bill Millin, a Scottish Piper, played his bagpipes as he walked the beach while the carnage erupted around him. He later asked captured German prisoners why they hadn’t shot at him. They said they thought he was on a suicide mission and was clearly mad.

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69dV7 TIL Esteemed astronomer William Herschel presented his views that there were inhabitants on the Sun to Britain’s Royal Society in 1795. At the time, many scientists thought that all the planets were inhabited and many considered the Sun to be a planet
05nN TIL that to punish tree thieves who cut down trees illegally, some cities spray trees with fox urine around Christmas time. It freezes on them and is odorless outdoors, but would stink up your whole house if brought indoors; the smell is “eye-watering.”
5Y40P TIL John Capenter's "The Thing" was the first movie in a Trilogy by Carpenter named "The Apocalypse Trilogy" all set in the same universe beginning with 'The Thing', followed by 'Prince of Darkness' and ending with 'In the Mouth of Madness'.
Z8EOR TIL Your smartphone is millions of times more powerful than the Apollo 11 guidance computers
nWvwB TIL that some Mormyridae (also called [african] freshwater elephant fish] have the highest brain-to-body ratio of any vertebrates. Specifically Gnathonemus petersii have a much higher one than humans. They also use complex electrical ("radio") signals to communicate with each other.