› added 12 years ago

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TIL World War 2 is technically still going on, as Japan and Russia have yet to sign a peace treaty with each other. Additionally, both countries continue to lay claim to the Southern Kurile Islands - efforts to diffuse the situation have been unsuccessful.

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XE8NE TIL Sean Bean was so afraid of flying during the filming of LOTR that he would hike a few miles up the mountain to get to the set’s location, sometimes in full costume and gear.
8adNL TIL more Lego minifigures appear each year than human children, and they now outnumber us, being highly collectible and non-decomposing.
neyy9 TIL that in 2018, country music fans were shocked and appalled to learn that lifelong hippy and progressive Willie Nelson was, in fact, not a Republican.
W7YKX TIL that the speed of gold medalists in the men’s 100m freestyle swim has nearly doubled between the first and the most recent Summer Olympics, from 1 minute and 22.2 seconds at the 1896 games in Athens to 47.02 seconds at the 2020 games in Tokyo
XEOeP TIL snake oil was introduced to the US by Chinese laborers who helped build the Transcontinental Railroad. Derived from the Chinese water snake, snake oil was rich in the omega-3 acids that help reduce inflammation and was quite effective, especially when used to treat arthritis and bursitis.