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TIL the oldest monument in Paris is over 3,000 years old. The Ottoman ruler of Egypt gave a 75 ft, 250 ton ancient Egyptian obelisk to France in exchange for a mechanical clock in 1833. The obelisk was placed in the center of the Place de la Concorde where it stands today.

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06QA TIL that the Roman fertility deity, Priapus, was also a guardian god who threatened to violate trespassers with his large penis
j6GEQ TIL Shortly before Paris was captured by the Nazis in 1940, French engineers cut the lift cables to the Eiffel Tower. German soldiers had to climb the entire tower in order to hoist their flag... which blew away after just few hours. Hitler himself was unable to make the climb when he visited.
ZePB TIL Every autumn Black-capped Chickadees allow brain neurons containing old information to die, replacing them with new neurons so they can adapt to changes in their social flocks and environment even with their tiny brains.
Xml6 TIL the Aral Sea, once the 4th largest lake in the world, has been steadily shrinking since the 1960’s. It’s now 1/10th the original size. Nearly 90% of the water has now given way to sandy desert with wrecks of beached boats dotting the surface.
141r TIL a noblewoman (a widow of a samurai lord & descendent of a long line of ninjas) recruited, trained, & led an all-female group of 200-300 ninja agents—consisting of ex-prostitutes, orphans, & civil-war victims—who were successfully deployed for the Takeda clan against rival warlords in 1500s Japan