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TIL Jean-Pierre Blanchard had to complete the first English Channel crossing by air without his pants as he tossed them out to mid-journey to lower the weight.

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v5nK TIL that in 1897, an internal Western Union memo said that “This ‘telephone’ has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication”.
e0ey5 TIL that during the Soviet Union, government officials made a deal with Pepsi to allow Pepsi into the Soviet Union, being the first foreign product sanctioned for sale in the Soviet Union. After the fall of the Soviet Union, Coca-Cola was favored because Pepsi was associated with the Soviet Union.
DlWp TIL: Only 2% of the world’s population have natural green eyes
R5xyl TIL that during the Cold War, the CIA experimented with using pigeons equipped with tiny cameras to conduct aerial surveillance. While it sounds like a joke, pigeons were genuinely deployed for spy missions!
0pJM TIL The population of Detroit is now less than half of what it was in 1940. Main reasons include high levels of crime and the failure of the automobile industry.