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TIL, the Pacific Northwest is woefully unprepared for an earthquake and subsequent tsunami that would follow a quake in the Cascadia Subduction zone. The average time elapsed between quakes is 243 years. We are at currently at year 315 since the last quake. Everything west of I5 will be gone.

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E1Wbp TIL That in 1917, 7 years after Mark Twain's death, two spiritualist mediums claimed that Twain’s ghost had dictated them a new novel via Ouija Board. The novel was published, received very poor reviews and the book publisher was prosecuted by the Twain estate.
JDvv TIL Charles XII of Sweden was embalmed well enough to recognize his features when exhumed 200 years after his death. Photographs show the gunshot wound to his head that killed him.
ADYKx TIL pine trees scatter their needles across the forest floor to make it easier for fires to burn all of the other trees - pine is fire resistant so it survives.
Eg0dW TIL Africa accounts for just 3% of the world's trade
mxR9O TIL that the Christian Cult called "The Children of God" encouraged its female members to enter into sexual relationships with potential converts to lure them in. Called 'Flirty Fishing', they 'successfully' lured over 100,000 men into the cult.