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TIL in 1209, crusaders were sent to siege Béziers (in France) as many citizens had become heretics. Before the attack, the army asked the Pope's ambassador on how to distinguish between heretics and Catholics, he replied: "Kill them all; let God sort them out." All 20,000 inhabitants were killed.

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9w0GQ TIL the Canadians once invented a flying saucer during the cold war
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6RjZ TIL that even though he initially refused it, George Washington’s salary as President ($25,000) equaled 2% of the national budget
8alYK TIL in one of Thomas Jefferson's letters to James Madison in 1789 he stated that the Constitution and laws should expire after 19 years. This was to allow the new generations to learn from the past and change accordingly, it was also to prevent older generations from "binding" subsequent ones.
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