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TIL In 1867, Russia sold the territory of Alaska to the U.S. for $7.2 million. A mere 50 years later, the Americans had earned that amount back 100 times over!

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4k8Za TIL 18th century painter Theodoor Wilkens was sketching the ruins of an town in Rome with a crowd watching him. The crowd's movement on the edge of the town caused a building to collapse. The crowd concluded that he was practicing witchcraft and he had to storm out of the city.
Yp1LP TIL that brake and tail lights are red because this colour has the highest wavelength in the colour spectrum making it visible in longer distances, even with fog.
4ka7b TIL scientists were "blown away" when they found a 1,700-year-old chicken egg in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire with the yolk and egg white still inside. It's thought to be the only one of its kind.
wLvo1 TIL of Brian Molony, a compulsive gambler famous for embezzling millions to feed his gambling habit. Starting gambling from the age of 10, he embezzled 10 million dollars and lost almost 5 million dollars at Caesars Atlantic City. His life story is the basis of the movie Owning Mahowny.
WoAX TIL General Sherman used confederate POWs to clear landmines that were killing his troops