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TIL turning over control of the Panama Canal to Panama was a huge controversial emotional issue dividing many Americans in the 1970's

d8DOd TIL male fruit flies drink away pain of rejection. Males who had been rejected and who'd gotten lucky had the option of eating normal food or food spiked with alcohol. While the happy/lucky fruit flies had no preference, the rejected fruit flys were far more likely to eat the alcohol-infused food.
YWax TIL that Nick Frost lost his sister at an early age, his mother died from a stroke, and he lost his home. Years later while he worked as a waiter at a resteraunt, he met Simon Pegg, they became best friends, and then they made Shaun of the Dead, which kickstarted his career
8aG4P TIL that lyme disease was not as common in the past as it is now, and its prevalence is actually due to an explosion in the white-footed mouse population at the turn of the 20th century. This in turn coincides with the extinction of the mouse's primary ecological competitor: the passenger pigeon.
oe5r TIL 10 Downing Street, the residence of the Prime minister of the UK, has a cat with a government title of Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office. His day-to-day responsibilities include contemplating a solution to the mouse occupancy of the house.
b6rJE TIL after the Mexican government refused to pay damages to a French pastry chef who's shop in Tacubaya was looted, French King Louis Philippe I. got involved, leading to the Franco-Mexican Pastry War of 1838.