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TIL that the rarest and most expensive silk in history, is made from mussel threads. Once worn by royalty its production nearly vanished—today, only one woman in Sardinia, Chiara Vigo, still weaves it.

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neYpY TIL that Emma of Normandy married both Æthelred the Unready, the King of the English, and Cnut the Great, the son of Sweyn Forkbeard who overthrew Æthelred. Her sons by each, Edward the Confessor and Harthacnut, each became king of England.
kJO8B TIL about the War between Monkeys and Dogs in India. After a pack of dogs killed an infant monkey, a tribe of monkeys began throwing small dogs and puppies off rooftops. After having killed nearly all the dogs in the area, the monkeys started targeting small children.
wope8 TIL the "red telephone" for the Moscow-Washington hotline was never a real red phone. Initially a Teletype link, it switched to fax in 1986, and since 2008, it's a secure computer link for email communication. The connection has always been Kremlin-Pentagon and not to the White House.
KYBbR TIL globally 43.94% of drivers use their seatbelt, 38.47% among front seat passengers, and 15.32% for rear seat. Around 1.3 million people die every year on the road. Wearing a seatbelt decreases the risk of death among drivers and front seat passengers by 45–50% and 25% for rear seat
rNbPd TIL the Stephen Sondheim musical "The Frogs" premiered at the Yale University swimming pool 30 years before it opened on Broadway. The ensemble cast included Yale students Meryl Streep and Sigourney Weaver.