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TIL that during the Cold War, Chairman Mao held meetings in his swimming pool to embarrass Nikola Khrushchev, who had to wear a floatie as he couldn’t swim. Khrushchev felt insulted and the incident furthered the deterioration of relations between the Soviet Union and China.

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v1O58 TIL about Aimo Koivunen, a Finnish ski commando who in 1944 escaped from pursuing Russians by taking 30 pills of Pervitin. He skied for 400 kilometers in -20C temperatures with no food and ammunition, got injured by a landmine, and had a pulse rate of 200 beats per minute by the time he was found.
oAwY TIL a convicted murderer was once granted a retrial after it was discovered that four members of the jury used a Ouija board to contact the victim before rendering their verdict.
95JM TIL that according to a 2013 study, practitioners of BDSM (Bondage, Discipline & Sado-Masochism) have a better mental health overall than practitioners of “vanilla” sex.
ne4xr TIL that one of the New York Mafia families’ rules is that the members aren’t allowed to grow facial hair.
VBO5Z TIL that in 1856 the U.S army bought camels, and in 1862 the confederate army captured "Douglas the camel", he served a year before he was shot, or most likely eaten.