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TIL On September 8, 2009, Sgt. Dakota Meyer disobeyed a direct order to pull back from his position so he could rescue wounded soldiers from a firefight a mile away. He ended up going back five times, saving the lives of 36 soldiers, saying “That’s what you do for a brother”.

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oBvp8 TIL In 1890, a theater enthusiast named Eugene Schieffelin introduced European starlings mentioned in Shakespeare's plays to the American continent. They devoured entire orchards, costing farmers millions each year and now consuming nearly all the eggs of the nearly-extinct eastern bluebird.
X0DNE TIL The longest word in the English language, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, is pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis, which is a lung disease caused by inhaling very fine silica particles.
wLR66 TIL about Viktor Belenko, the Soviet MiG pilot that in 1976 defected to the USA via Japan and stole a MiG-25 jet. The USA returned the jet a year later disassembled and categorized in boxes.
mxLVO TIL of the Pen-tailed treeshrew which is the only mammal that daily imbibes alcohol. It consumes the equivalent of 10-12 glasses of wine a night with no sign of intoxication.
gMkEA TIL while Canada was officially neutral during the U.S. Civil War, between 33-55,000 Canadians volunteered and fought mostly for the Union. Over 29 Canadians received the Medal of Honor. The war led to change in governing philosophy in Canada, with more focus on federation instead of states rights.