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TIL that following the 1797 swearing-in of Federalist President John Adams, Democratic-Republican Vice President Thomas Jefferson extended his hand to Adams in an apparent handshake before jerking his hand away, adjusting his wig, and running his hand along the side of it.

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p8YQN TIL about Operation Looking Glass - a 24-hour a day, continuously airborne command center capable of directing all of the United States' nuclear assets as backup, should SAC's ground facilities be destroyed. Taking turns, the airplanes stayed continuously staffed for 29 years.
W5Q4 TIL courts are increasingly turning to website Urban Dictionary to clarify modern slang language. It has notably been used in a supreme court sexual harrassment case in Tennessee in 2013.
4XGZ6 TIL Funerals in Taiwan sometimes feature erotic dancers to attract mourners and assist the transition to the afterlife
v1A78 TIL the Maltese language is descended from the time of Muslim Arab control over Malta a millennium ago. The Arab language survived Christian reconquest, but disconnected from the Arab world, absorbed Italian/Sicilian/English vocabulary, evolving into Maltese today. It is written with Latin script.
6RkW TIL That Nazi Hermann Goering said: “The people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country.”