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TIL an 18kg sapphire was mined in Madagascar in 1995. It was carved into a 61,500 carat crystal featuring 134 different individuals in milestones in human history, paying tribute to humanity.

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dZgK TIL you’re nearly 300 times more likely to be a victim of homicide in new Orleans as you are in Hong Kong.
loXAr TIL in Pittsburgh in 1905, America’s first motion picture theater opened. It was named the Nickelodeon. The name was created by combining the cost of admission, a nickel, with ‘odean’ which is the Ancient Greek word for theater.
VBrkp TIL that on 25/2/1991, the Patriot missile system failed at an airbase in Saudi Arabia, allowing a Scud missile to hit the airbase, killing 28. A build up of small timing errors caused by errors in the internal clock led to the system failing to detect the missile on time. A patch was issued on 26/2
x6MM7 TIL Pope Urban VII's only major act as Pope was the world's first public smoking ban. Anyone who "took tobacco in the porchway of or inside a church, whether it be by chewing it, smoking it with a pipe or sniffing it in powdered form through the nose" faced excommunication. His reign lasted 13 days
xVA6b TIL Michael Jackson composed songs despite not playing any instruments. He would build each element of a track with his voice, so pitch perfect that studio musicians could match chords to his singing.