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TIL the United States runs a program with lasers and lunar reflectors that measure the distance to the moon, started in 1970 - with an accuracy better than 3 centimeters since the 1990s.

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OGPjg TIL A "jiffy" is an actual unit of time. It represents 1/100th of a second
jGLE TIL there’s a company that specializes in making hidden rooms for your home. One requires a chess board played in a certain combination to unlock.
NLGM TIL that until recently, most perfumes contained a preservative called “ambergris,” which is hardened sperm whale vomit. Terrible smelling chunks of ambergris can be found lying on beaches, and are worth tens of thousands of dollars per pound.
xk4B TIL that Henry David Thoreau’s last words were, “moose” followed by “indian”.
alx9 TIL; there have been at least 9 confirmed political assassinations in the United States since 2000