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TIL that in this famous photo of a man being executed in the Vietnam War, both the executioner and the executed have the exact same Family name: Nguyễn. The reason for the brutal summary execution was because he had slit the throats of a military leader and his entire family, all also named Nguyễn.

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e0vyL TIL the myth of the man-eating piranha was started as part of a spectacle to impress Theodore Roosevelt
oB9XE TIL that the Spanish flu killed more people in 1 year than AIDS did in 40, and more than the bubonic plague did in a century.
9b57 TIL Elephants console one another when they are upset with gentle touches and trunk strokes. Previously, only humans, great apes and birds in the raven family were known to do this.
neveY TIL the Hitchcock film North By Northwest (1959) is regarded by some to be "the first James Bond film", due to its similarities with splashily colorful settings, secret agents, a femme fatale, and an elegant, wisecracking leading man opposite a sinister yet strangely charming villain
ZnZa TIL the state of Kuwait is banned from the Olympics due to government legislation that permits the state to interfere in elections of sporting organizations. As a result, Kuwaiti athletes compete as independent athletes under the Olympic Flag instead of their own flag.