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TIL evolution isn’t always slow and continuous—sometimes it happens in rapid bursts (Punctuated Equilibrium), which explains why fossils often lack smooth transitions.

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D4ev TIL on December 24, 1955 a newspaper ad told kids they could call Santa & listed the number. The number was incorrect & went to the US Air Defense Command. The colonel on duty told his team to give all kids Santa’s “current location.” This tradition now handles calls from over 200 countries.
mx5gy TIL that due to a researcher’s offhand comment about octopus DNA seeming “alien”, many news outlets mistakenly began reporting that cephalopods had actually come from outer space.
GA9J4 TIL North Korea ordered and took delivery of 1,000 Volvos ftom Sweden. They never paid for them.
y0E8 TIL when Mt. St. Helens erupted, the blast was heard in British Columbia, Montana, Idaho, and California. However, the blast was not heard in Portland, Oregon only 50 miles away.
D1kPV TIL about the Bermuda Triangle of the Pacific, the century-old Dragon's Triangle (or the Devil's Sea). It is located near Japan and known for similar "paranormal" properties and unexplained instances of disappearing ships.