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TIL that Jean-Bédel Bokassa declared himself emperor of Central Africa with a ludicrous coronation ceremony in 1977 that cost nearly $20M ($90M today), almost bankrupting the country

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7r8Br TIL China was the first country in the world to produce steel preceding Europe by over 1000 years but failed to reach an industrial revolution due to the absence of a middle class
p0Gp TIL during the Cold War, due to high levels of activity, the Soviets thought the building in the courtyard at the center of the Pentagon was a Top Secret meeting location. Little did they know, the building was a hot dog stand
D1xRP TIL there is no Korean last name 'Lee'; rather, the second most common family name is 'I', but since single letter names are so uncommon in English, almost all Koreans with that family name choose to go by Lee when representing their name in Roman characters.
pYAYZ TIL that no smoking signs became mandatory in airplane lavatories after a fire on Varig Flight 820 killed all but one passenger by carbon monoxide poisoning and smoke inhalation.
oRMWE TIL that according to every estimate available the average European was much richer than the average Indian and Chinese even before the Industrial revolution had happened