› added 6 years ago

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TIL Hong Kong will be returned to mainland China in 2047, no matter what. The former United Kingdom colony was given a 50 year contract of independence as stipulated in the so called "One country, two systems" agreement.

78pOL TIL, Operation Paperclip was a secret United States intelligence program in which more than 1,600 German scientists, engineers, and technicians were taken from the former Nazi Germany to the U.S. for government employment after the end of World War II in Europe, between 1945 and 1959.
9YRKG TIL UK's highest-paid entertainer in WW2, George Formby, went to Normandy after the landings, & gave 9 shows to frontline troops who’d held out for 56 days without relief, his audience in foxholes. He also crawled through trenches to tell jokes when the enemy was too close for a show.
woZvM TIL Fireflies produce light in special organs in their abdomens by combining a chemical called luciferin, enzymes called luciferases, oxygen and the fuel for cellular work, ATP. Entomologists think they control their flashing by regulating how much oxygen goes to their light-producing organs.
j6xjQ TIL David Lynch has given a weather report on his YouTube account almost every day since 05/11/2020
78W8r TIL about Sebastianism, a cult which believes Portuguese King Sebastião I was never killed in battle and will return when Portugal needs him the most. The last Sebastianists are found on a Brazilian island where the locals say he's been reincarnated as a bull.