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TIL The State of New Mexico was not named after the country Mexico.

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epNeL TIL the 2004 "Thailand tsunami" killed an estimated 227,898 people, including 170,000 people in Indonesia
MeYk8 TIL of the Jewish Golden Age which flourished under Muslim rule in Andalusia (Spain) in the 8th and 9th century where many Jewish Scientists, Philosophers, Poets and Travellers lived.
M7JbW TIL Juliane de Fontevrault, the illegitimate daughter of King Henry I of England, tried to kill him with a crossbow after he permitted the blinding of her daughters, his grandchildren, who were hostages at the time.
gM04W TIL 80 to 90 percent of high school graduates in Singapore are myopic. The same is true in China, Taiwan, Japan and South Korea— all places where kids now spend far more time hunched over a desk or computer than did previous generations. Half the world could need glasses by 2050
vl17 TIL that the Chinese Yongle encyclopedia, completed in 1408, was the largest encyclopedia ever created until Wikipedia finally surpassed it in 2007