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TIL That the Czech language was saved from extinction by puppet shows. In the 17th century, the Catholic Ferdinand II forced the Protestant Czech people to speak in German and banned the Czech language. Puppets were the only remaining entities that had the right to speak Czech in public places.

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eXWk TIL in 1938, 150 women chained themselves to cherry trees in Washington DC in protest of plans to cut the trees down to clear space for the Jefferson Memorial. The protest ended when they had to use the bathroom.
8avNK TIL of the largest mass kidnapping in US history. A school bus driver and 26 children were abducted as part of a failed ransom plot in 1976. They were buried alive in the back of a moving van. The driver, with help from some of the older kids, managed to open a trapdoor and free everyone inside.
rNyrM TIL: Just last year in 2023 , the Great Kentucky Hoard was found, adding proof to the age old claims of lost Civil War gold caches. It consisted of verified 800 Civil War coins most of them gold. The person who discovered it hid his identity and where exactly he unearthed them.
OoLNa TIL in the 1930s a DuPont chemist found that crystals of a substance called PTC (phenylthiocarbamide) tasted very bitter to some but were tasteless to others (about 75% taste bitterness). Researchers found three variants in a gene called TAS2R38. Two copies of this variant make you non-taster.
dDVrd TIL the U.S. largest state: Alaska, is bigger than California, Texas, and Montana combined, and over 2500 miles from east to west.