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TIL during WW2 Nazi German forces designed explosive laden chocolate bars for Winston Churchill knowing his weakness for them, believing that it’d be an easy way to kill him. They also made explosive laden coal pieces, thermos flasks and mess tins among many others. An alert MI5 foiled these plans.

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Brk8x TIL that the robot suit in the 60's TV series Lost In Space had a built-in ashtray. The suit was so difficult and painful to get in and out of that the actor Bob May would just stay inside and have his smoke breaks in the suit so needed a place for his ashes and butts.
J1nQk TIL on January 23, 1556 a massive earthquake, measuring 9.0 on the Richter scale, struck Shaanxi, China, killing over 850,000 people. This is the most devastating earthquake in recorded history.
rMoe TIL in 1961 Donald Reid built a Flying Submarine. It was demonstrated on 9 June 1964 where it dove to a depth of 6.5 feet (2 m) then flew to an altitude of 33 ft (10 m) .
ew94 TIL that incompetent people don’t know they’re incompetent and completely overestimate their abilities, while truly competent people are filled with doubts and often underestimate their own abilities - it’s called the Dunning Kruger effect.
6ExW7 TIL Composer Dvořák was inspired by African-American spirituals while in America and became convinced they were the future of American music. He told a student, "these beautiful and varied themes are the product of the soil. They are the folk songs of America and your composers must turn to them."