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TIL the oldest living human-planted tree in the world with a known planting date is the sacred fig tree "Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi", planted in 288 BC.

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9Y5b7 TIL that Benjamin Franklin used chess as a means of learning Italian. He would play games with a friend who was also studying the language. The winner of their match assigned a task to the loser; such as making them learn some Italian grammar, which had to be performed before their next match.
rR1mw TIL governments banned the Incandescent Lightbulb for not being efficient enough, but MIT researchers developed an incandescent bulb more efficient than LED bulbs.
oBxAW TIL that when you die you can have your remains turned in to a diamond. Carbon is extracted from your cremated ashes or hair and compressed to almost 900,000 PSI and subjected to temperatures of 2,500 degrees Celsius to form a bonding of the atoms.
oRJaL TIL hundreds of mummified seals have been found as far as 41 miles inland in Antarctica. One tested specimen had been sitting out in the open for 1,500 years. Researchers theorize that 1-2 seals annually get lost during white-out events and accidentally travel inland, where they eventually die.
XAyj TIL there are warehouses so vast that they produce their own weather systems. The NASA assembly building at 348K sq. ft. even has its own rain clouds.