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TIL of the French essayist and grammarian Dominique Bouhours, whose dying words were “I am about to - or I am going to - die: either expression is correct.”

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kOJD4 TIL that in 1922, a Canadian fur trapper named Ben Cochrane was killed by a pack of wolves, but only after fatally shooting seven of them and clubbing four others to death until his rifle stock broke off
R7R64 The first modern crematory was built in the U.S. in 1876. A second came eight years later. By 1900, there were 20. The practice got another boost in 1963 when the Catholic Church reversed its opinion on cremation during the Vatican II reforms and said cremation was permitted (though ash scattering was not). Four decades ago, less than 5 percent of American were cremated when they died. Now that figure stands at nearly half.
YpKMd TIL that Band-aids when opened in dark create a blue light glow due to a phenomena called Triboluminescence
DQm7D TIL in English folklore the phrase "rob Peter to pay Paul" comes from King Henry VIII redirecting funds from St. Peter's(Westminster Abbey) to St. Paul's Cathedral after seizing church property during the English Reformation.
n6N7 TIL in 1931 the Soviets attempted to battle illiteracy using erotic picture alphabet books.