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TIL the knobcone pine, (Pinus attenuata), requires fire to complete its reproduction cycle. Cones remain closed for many years until a fire opens them and allows reseeding. As a result, knobcone cones may even become embedded in the growing wood as the tree matures.

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eXl5 TIL a dying farmer scratched his will on the fender of the tractor he was trapped beneath, and the courts accepted it as legally binding
OGAKR TIL in 1985 French government agents bombed and sank a Greenpeace ship docked in Auckland, New Zealand, killing a freelance photographer
awwlM Ancient alchemists tried just about anything to turn lead into gold. But if they had just had a laser, they might have been able to make pseudo-platinum.
YpAY7 TIL of Frederick McKinley Jones - an orphaned black American who, in the 1930s when racial segregation was the norm, invented the first successful automatic refrigeration system for trucks. This lead to the development of supermarkets and better combat-zone medical supply.
b6MGa TIL about the Grafton castaways, a real-life version of Gilligan's Island. Shipwrecked in 1864 on the Auckland Islands for almost 20 months, 5 men survived by building a thatched hut with glass windows and bookshelves. They crafted a forge to work metal, tanned leather, made soap from seashells etc.