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TIL the phrase 'Knock on Wood' derives from the pagan belief that malevolent spirits inhabited wood, and that if you expressed a hope for the future you should touch, or knock on, wood to prevent the spirits from hearing and presumably preventing your hopes from coming true.

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d9ZE TIL Multiple Sclerosis is more common the further you are from the equator.
BgJ0d TIL that in 1937, seven North American beavers were released in Finland as an effort to boost the population of the Eurasian beaver (nearly hunted to extinction) before it was known that they were actually two distinct species. Today, approximately 12,000 North American beavers live in Finland.
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R7yNw TIL that Agatha Christie wrote the final Hercule Poirot book "Curtain" in the 1940s, fearing she might die during the blitz and leave the book series without a proper ending. She kept writing more books after that, and once she decided she was done "Curtain" was finally published in 1975.
jXjQ TIL:of Pando a grove of 47,000 or so trees that is genetically identical and all the trees share a single root system.