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TIL the entirety of Ulysses S. Grant’s much-given “perfect speech” was: “I rise only to say that I do not intend to say anything. I thank you for your hearty welcomes and good cheers.”

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R74R1 TIL snails are responsible for more than 200,000 human deaths a year.
EBGX TIL: in 2009, a South African IT company had a carrier pigeon race against the country’s largest internet service provider, Telkom, over 80 km. In a two hour period, a 4GB flash drive was carried by Winston the pigeon and read, while only 4.2% of the data had been transferred by Telkom.
yQ1XV TIL 9-year-old Amber Hagerman's abduction inspired the creation of the "Amber Alert". 26 years later, her disappearance remains unsolved.
QNM4X TIL Marla Gibbs continued to work as a flight attendant for two years after being cast on a hit TV show. In a 2015 interview, Gibbs told the Washington Post that despite it appearing as though she had gotten her big break, she kept her job as a flight attendant for American Airlines for 2 more yrs.
801Z TIL that HBO’s iconic “Band of Brothers” premiered two days before 9/11. When the attacks occurred, HBO stopped all marketing for the show, and by the end of the series it had half the viewers it started with. It won six Emmys, a Golden Globe, and was awarded a Peabody.