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TIL the Chinese city of Fancheng held out for nearly 6 years against the Mongols - until Kublai Khan's nephew sent him Muslim engineers from Iran that built counterweight trebuchets, with a range of 1,600 ft. and launching projectiles weighing 660 lbs. The city fell within a few days.

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7Gjr TIL the English words moose, opossum, pecan, raccoon, skunk, and squash all originated from the now-extinct language of the Algonquian people, the native tribe inhabiting the site of the earliest English colony in what is now the US at Roanoke Island.
b6lx0 TIL that the Great Vowel Shift between 1400-1700 was a series of pronunciation changes in English. With that many words froze with spelling and pronunciations not matching. This is why some English vowels are a mess with words like "meat" and "meet" being spelt differently but pronounced the same.
R7pD7 TIL: There are approximately 600 million dogs in the world. It is estimated that nearly 400M of those dogs are strays. The United States has the highest pet dog population in the world. Approximately 75.8 million
XErXE TIL Amish people end formal education at the 8th grade. This is mainly because they value apprenticeship and hands-on learning, and that more advanced learning can foster anti-Christian beliefs and counter their values.
BrMJe TIL how Samuel Clements chose his pen name. He used to be a Riverboat Pilot in Hannibal, MO. It was common to have a crew member throw a line out from the front of the boat to measure the depth shouting “Mark Twain” if it was a safe depth. A Mark is the same as a Fathom (6 feet) and Twain means 2.