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TIL 193km of the Suez Canal was dug partly by hand starting in 1859. Over the span of 10 years, around 1 million took part in the digging and it cost the lives of over 100 thousand Egyptian forced laborers.

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l7pd5 TIL Betty Boop was based on actress Helen Kane, not (as I had believed) on Clara Bow.
BXrK TIL They used to use urine to tan animal skins. Families used to all pee in a pot & then once a day sell it to the tannery. If you had to do this to survive you were considered “Piss Poor”.
VPp8 TIL the earliest known depiction of Christ (1st-3rd century) is a graffitied scribble of him with a donkey’s head.
GAXZ1 TIL that it is extremely difficult to measure (short) time scales
5Pep TIL Eastern Airlines closed so suddenly in 1991 that thousands of passengers and crew were left stranded across the country as their connecting flights, or return flights, were suddenly cancelled.