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TIL: in 1896 two trains were intentionally crashed at high speed in the United States as a public spectacle.

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E1baP TIL in 2014 scientists discovered that trees can both absorb, and emit methane
x6X87 TIL that one of the worst droughts in recorded history occurred in Texas during the 1950's. Huge lakes and rivers dried up completely, grass nearly died out leading to massive dust storms, and 50% of Texas' farming industry was dead by the end of the decade.
5VLjr TIL of the SS Princess Sophia disaster. It ran aground on a reef in Alaska, but the weather was too rough to attempt a rescue or evacuation and it sank after 40 hours, killing everyone on board.
NGpP TIL after the US ambassador to the Sudan was kidnapped in 1973, Nixon said he would not negotiate with terrorists; the ambassador was shot 12 hours later.
KO9GB TIL that in 2017, Frankfurt police found a car belonging to a 76 year old man who had forgotten where he had parked it 20 years earlier.