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TIL that speed is now so important in financial trading that a new $300 million transatlantic cable was laid down in order to shave 5 milliseconds off communications between New York and London.

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9Y4EX TIL muskrats are considered legally fish by the Catholic diocese of southeast Michigan, allowing them to be eaten on Fridays during Lent. When asked about the ruling the local bishop wrote that "anyone who could eat muskrat was doing penance worthy of the greatest of the saints."
dDZNr TIL about Manichaeism, a former major religion founded in the 3rd century by the Iranian prophet Mani. At its peak, it was one of the most widespread religions on Earth. Manichaean churches and scriptures existed as far as China to the Roman Empire. It was briefly a main rival to early Christianity.
o86r TIL Santa Cruz del Islote is the most densely populated island in the world
9w4OX TIL that around 1226, a Vietnamese prince fled Vietnam with a large number of servants. He ended up in Korea, where King Kojong of the Goryeo Dynasty welcomed him. Today about 600 households in South Korea can trace their ancestry to him
eVxL TIL The Soviet Union tried to drill through the Earth’s crust just to see what would happen.