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TIL of John Laurens, an officer in the Continental Army who strongly opposed slavery, and tried unsuccessfully multiple times to institute black regiments in the struggle for independence. His abolitionist views were admirable, considering his South Carolina birth and father’s ownership of slaves.

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96A7 TIL that a girl has eaten almost nothing but ramen noodles since she was 5 years old. She is now 18 and has the equivalent health of an 80 year old.
nWQo TIL an Australian farmer protested government-imposed wheat quotas by ceding from Australia and creating his own country. This was 40 years ago. The country still exists, and he’s the king.
jNaGp TIL that the sounds we hear in nature documentaries,including popular ones like Planet Earth II,are almost always created by Foley artists in studios with commonplace objects.Eg.Magnetic film tape are used to create the sound of a spider walking and a slinky to make the web shooting sounds.
6ELEY TIL that in 1720 a ship full of precious goods and sick people arrived in Marseille/France. In spite of clear signs, greedy merchands put pressure an the authorities to shorten the quarantine and not to burn the freight. More than 100.000 people died because of pestilence in the next two years.
NXedN TIL Although Laika is commonly perceived as the first animal in space, this is not the case. The very first animals sent into space were fruit flies on board of a V-2 rocket launched by the US. They returned to Earth alive.