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TIL Edinburgh, Scotland was the first city in the world to have its own fire brigade

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via reddit.com

pVP4 TIL when regulators were considering limiting the use of flame retardants in furniture, a doctor gave up his liscense after telling lawmakers false stories of babies who suffered fatal burns while on cushioning that lacked flame retardants. The industry secretly paid him $240,000 for his testimony.
nexZP TIL Burger King Russia offered free Whoppers for life to any woman who got pregnant by a World Cup 2018 player. The company later apologized.
P1VAV TIL that the earliest version of the Pied Piper story makes no mention of rats - only that, on 26 June 1284, a piper led 130 children out of Hamelin, never to return. Music and dancing remain banned on Bungelosenstrasse, the “street without drums” where they were last seen.
8L8V TIL Despite Napoleon divorcing her so he could have an heir, his first wife Josephine is the ancestor of 5 of the current royal houses of Europe. Napoleon is the ancestor of none.
4XvbN TIL that a 13-year-old opened a hot dog stand in front of his home in Minnesota, causing a complaint to the health department. Instead of shutting him down, the inspectors helped him bring his stand up to code and paid the $87 fee for his permit out of their own pockets.