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TIL of Cinnabar. A bright scarlet form of Mercury(II) Sulfide and the most toxic mineral on Earth. Being sent to Spanish cinnabar mines in the Middle Ages was considered a death sentence.

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p8wPb TIL that Nancy Sinatra was asked by songwriter Lee Hazlewood to sing one of her songs as if she were "a sixteen-year-old girl who fucks truck drivers". She promptly went on to reach #1 in the US, the UK, Australia, and Canada for "These Boots Are Made For Walkin'."
1adxr TIL: before 2019 you could only see Platypus in Australia, captive or wild, they are very difficult to keep & breed in captivity. two at San Diego Zoo are still alive.
XElBP TIL The idea of using red poppies to commemorate fallen soldiers first appeared in the poem “In Flanders Field”, written in 1915 by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae (Memorial Day 2021)
aexb TIL that the chief of Police in St. Paul let mobsters like Machine Gun Kelly, John Dillinger and Baby Face Nelson live in the city as long as they didn’t commit any crimes there. They were also protected from extradition and tipped off of any federal raids.
R5KYw TIL the battleship in Cher's 1989 music video "If I Could Turn Back Time" is the USS Missouri, the site of the official Japanese surrender in WWII