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TIL that a Japanese pilot who attacked a town in Oregon during WWII returned 20 years later to present his family’s 400-year-old sword as a symbol of regret.

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wMw6 TIL photographer Mathew Brady captured over 7000 photos of the US Civil War (including the portrait of Lincoln that would be used for the $5 bill), which have become the most important visual documentation of the period. He died in debt after the US gov’t did not buy his master-copies after the war.
XE0nk TIL Amar Bharati has been constantly holding his arm up to honor the Hindu deity Shiva since 1973. The reason for that is that Mr. Bharati is a Sadhu, a part of a religious group that advocates very hard challenges as acts of devotion to the god Shiva.
R7rvw TIL of the Son of Sam laws that state convicted criminals cannot profit in any way from their crimes whether it be from books, tv, film, etc. All proceeds from these deals go directly to the victims or their families.
awR4Z TIL If you are named in someone's will, you are not called an "heir" -- you are a beneficiary. Heirs are legally defined for when someone dies intestate (without a will). Heirs may not be beneficiaries and beneficiaries may not be heirs.
OGKGa TIL that in 1393, a masquerade ball ended in disaster when the drunk brother of King Charles VI, Louis, entered the hall with a torch and ignited the costumes of four nobles, killing them. The ball was meant to cheer up King Charles, who had recently suffered a severe episode of madness.