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TIL that the modern camel, the epitome of adaptation to extreme desert climate, actually originates in the northern North American Paracamelus which migrated across the Bering land bridge into Asia around 6 million years ago

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Y7aGG TiL the Nirvana song "About a Girl" was written by Kurt Cobain about his then girlfriend Tracy Marander, partially inspired by their fights over Cobain's refusal to do household chores. She didn't know the song was about her until reading a biography on the band.
v1v4D TIL that Mount Everest is not the tallest mountain on Earth if measured from base to summit (Mauna Kea in Hawaii is). Mount Everest is only the "tallest" in terms of summit altitude above sea level.
oga8 TIL Cliché comes from the sound made when plates with commonly used words or phrases were fitted into a printing press. These plates were called stereotypes.
WkL8N TIL that people sentenced to death by beheading were advised to give the headsman a gold coin to ensure he did not botch the beheading and cause a painful death by multiple strokes
1a9Bd TIL in 1997 the second highest rated Chess player in America was a prisoner who played largely through letter correspondence. He was accused of inflating his rating by fixing matches against other inmates, and briefly escaped prison after bolting when permitted to attend a chess tournament.