› added 3 years ago

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TIL the song Over the River and Through the Wood is actually about Thanksgiving, and although we don't usually associate Thanksgiving with snow, at the time it was written, in the early 19th century, New England was going through the Little Ice Age.

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VyEG TIL In 1720, stock speculation caused the value of shares for the South Sea Company to jump from£128 in January to £1000 in August. When the bubble burst, it financially ruined their investors. One investor, Sir Isaac Newton lost £20,000, equivalent to about £268 million in present day value.
v1GOR TIL - In 1836, a sewer worker accidentally discovered an old drain which ran directly into the Bank of England's gold vault. He wrote letters to the directors of the bank and requested a meeting inside the vault at an hour of their choosing - and popped out of the floor to greet them
l7EpV TIL Viticulture, or winegrowing, involves growing and harvesting grapes, a horticulture branch. Native to Europe and the Caspian, the adaptable grape vine thrives globally on every continent except Antarctica.
PYkKE TIL the nickname Dixie, for the southeastern US states, comes from the Mason-Dixon line, a borderline which separated the US in slave and free states.
wojE6 TIL that most tracking devices sold today (including iPhones) can use both US and Russian GPS satellites simultaneously