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TIL that in 1778, the United States flag was formally recognized by a foreign naval vessel for the first time when French Admiral Toussaint-Guillaume Picquet de la Motte rendered a nine-gun salute to USS Ranger, commanded by John Paul Jones.

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Nmw6 TIL New College (f 1379) has a hall made with oak beams. A century ago it was found the beams were infested w/ beetles; Finding replacements would be difficult, however, in the 1300s New College had planted groves of oak trees w/ the sole purpose to replace the beams when they became full of beetles
Q1BX TIL Nancy Cowen was forced to leave behind her cat Cleo, whom she had adopted as a stray, when she moved into a nursing home. About two weeks later however, Cleo managed to find the nursing home where she is now reunited with her owner as care staff intend on keeping them together.
Ryra TIL that in 2005 Samantha Futerman played the role of a girl separated from her sister in the movie Memoirs of a Geisha. In 2013 Samantha was contacted by her own identical twin sister, Anaïs, who had discovered her on YouTube. Neither knew of each other because they had been separated at birth.
E5JW TIL that the reason we say “redhead” instead of “orangehead”“ for hair color is because English didn’t differentiate between the colors until the 1540s, long after the term was coined.
Q1ap TIL a pricing dispute over bamboo poles led to a war that killed 21 million people