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TIL that up to 45 million Chinese were killed in the Chinese government’s “Great Leap Forward”. Punishment for stealing a potato would be death by drowning, and parents were forced to bury their children alive or be drowned in urine. This makes the Great Leap Forward the largest 20th century murder.

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Me8vV TIL that Welsh football team The New Saints (TNS) was sponsored by a local computer company from 1997 to 2006, and changed its name to Total Network Solutions FC. Every time they won a home match, the TV announcer said "They'll be dancing in the streets of Total Network Solutions tonight!"
pWMQ TIL: Worlds deadliest sniper Simo Häyhä has 505 confirmed kills under 100 days.
grODL TIL that many Union veterans of the US Civil War worked in the marketing campaign for the memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant, canvassing to sell subscriptions to the book that the dying and destitute general wrote to provide an income to his family. Grant's memoirs became a bestseller of the 19th Century.
V8oZ TIL in 1982 a Los Angeles man named Larry Walters used a lawn chair and weather balloons to ascend to 15,000ft above ground. On the way up, he lost both his glasses and his bb gun, which he planned to use to shoot balloons to descend. He caused a 20min power outage, and was fined $1500.
Zgb4 TIL microwave ovens have clearly delineated “hot” and “cold” spots, and you can easily map out the hotspots of any given oven using a simple informal experiment.