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TIL a bankrupted con-artist from Oregon was able to purchase a bank license and opened a offshore bank in Grenada by claiming to own a 4 pound ruby worth $20 million dollars and a appraisal document proving its worth. The ruby was owned by a man in California who didn't know the scammer.

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E1r60 TIL The Portuguese military was born from the Templar Knights. King Dinis offered refuge when they were exterminated. Later, Queen Maria secularized them, and when the monarchy was abolished the grand master became the first president. Today, the order is awarded to valiant soldiers.
RY99 TIL of Cocaine Bear, AKA Pablo Eskobear. The bear died in a National Forest in Kentucky in ‘85 after ingesting a portion of 75lbs of coke ($15mil value) that had been dropped by a drug-smuggling, corrupt, fugitive lawyer who had been parachuting with it before falling to his death.
My4V TIL The practice of focusing on disasters elsewhere when one occurs in the Soviet Union was so common that after watching reports on Soviet television about a catastrophe abroad, Russians would call Western friends to find out whether something had happened in the Soviet Union.
D1GbV TIL the United States of America not only used the Marshall Islands as a nuclear bomb test site, but also used the Natives as Guinea pigs for their radioactive experiments.
lmY5 TIL of Robert H Lawrence Jr. a Major in the USAF, he was the first black man to be trained as an astronaut, however, he died in a plane crash during flight training and never made it to space.