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127

TIL an expedition to find the Niger River accidentally chose the Niger River as a starting point.

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78Gox TIL Horseshoe crabs have saved our lives countless times.
rNGLo TIL of Andras Toma, a Hungarian POW capturer near Krakow by Russians in 1945. None of the Russian doctors understood Hungarian, believing Andras to be speaking gibberish. It wasn't until 2000, when a Slovakian came around and understood he was speaking a real language. He was released after 55 years
b9AAQ TIL that our own stomach has to constantly secrete mucus to stop itself from being digested by our own stomach acid. Without that mucus, our stomach acid would eat through our stomach’s lining.
pYyee TIL Edwin Drake, the first american to successfully drill for oil, was hired by the oil company because he happened to be staying at the same hotel as the oil company's owners.
wLjZJ TIL that The Animals recorded The House of the Rising Sun in one take for £34 after loading their equipment on a stolen British railway wagon and pushing it through the West End of London to get to the studio on their day off