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TIL The Majority of American currency is contaminated with traces of cocaine.

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VMe18 TIL Karate changed it's spelling from 唐手 to 空手, changing it's meaning from "Chinese hand" to "empty hand" (both are pronounced karate). This was because of Japanese militarism, they wanted to conceal the fact that it developed under the influence of Chinese kung fu.
DvWP TIL Director John Ford was sent to the island of Midway to film a documentary on life at a small, isolated military base. He ended up getting caught in the Battle for Midway; he filmed the entire thing and was also injured during the fight.
ADkE4 TIL that the largest known star in existence UY Scuti, is so big, that if it swapped positions with our sun, it would easily engulf the orbits of Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars and Jupiter.
awo9y TIL that in the Vietnam War the average number of rounds expended from an M-16 rifle to kill one enemy soldier was 50,000, or $23,000 per kill. In comparison it took a sniper an average of 1.3 rounds, or $0.17 to kill an enemy soldier.
Xp48 TIL that the male brain is on average 9% larger than a female brain, even after correcting for body size.