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TIL In 1972, the US House of Representatives election in Alaska was held. Candidate Nick Begich disappeared a month earlier in a suspected plane crash. His body and the wreckage were never found. Despite this, he still won the election.

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GbY7 TIL the Amazon Rainforest area originally had terrible farming soil, until indigenous people invented a “superdirt” which remains fertile for thousands of years, renews and propagates by itself, and may currently cover as much as 10% of the Amazon basin.
LDwP TIL the Soviets had made a prototype laser pistol for use by their astronauts. The pistol was deigned to burn a hole through the spacesuits of enemy astronauts, killing them via suffocation and/or explosive decompression.
KY6nE TIL that during a meeting between Grover Cleveland and James Roosevelt, Cleveland said to Roosevelt's accompanying son, Franklin, “My little man, I am making a strange wish for you; that you may never be president of the United States.” The young Franklin Roosevelt became President 45 years later.
5Yv6k TIL about Liam Ashley a 17 year old boy from New Zealand who had criminal charges pressed against him by his parents for using their car without permission. His parents denied bail so he would be sent to prison. While being transported in a prison van, He was attacked by a offender and killed.
b9L87 TIL That nobody really knows how to correctly play Beethoven's famous "Für Elise" - original notes were never found and were published years after Beethoven's death by Ludwig Nohl. Pianists are still arguing how to play this piece.