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TIL of the Carolina Parakeet, a neotropical parrot that was native to much of the United States up until they were driven extinct by deforestation, hunting, and possibly disease in 1910. They lived in huge flocks of up to 300 birds and were likely poisonous to eat.

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xVjAw TIL that, in addition to Father Christmas, Icelanders are visited by the 13 Yule Lads (including Sausage-Swiper, Spoon-Licker, & Door-Sniffer), as well as their giant pet cat Jólakötturinn, who eats children who don't receive new clothes for Christmas.
Y7nMG TIL that Milton Bradley originally had been in the business of selling pictures of celebrities. After his biggest seller Abraham Lincoln grew his iconic beard and rendered his entire stock of lithographs worthless and had customers demanding their money back, MB switched to selling board games
x6pPB TIL The Maimonides Dream Telepathy experiments were real scientific studies conducted during the 1960s and 1970s at the Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York. Led by researchers such as Dr. Montague Ullman and Dr. Stanley Krippner, the experiments aimed to investigate the possibility of te
wLB9E TIL that marbles and other glass shaped through the technique of glass blowing are heated in a furnace known as the "glory hole". The term predates the more modern colloquial use of the phrase. It's use goes back as far as 1825!
m1Zbv TIL that Benjamin Franklin wrote a joke paper submission to the Royal Academy of Brussels called "Fart Proudly" which details how important research into reducing the smell of farts needs to be undertaken.