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TIL a village in India is addicted to chess after one man taught everyone how to play 50 years ago to stop excessive alcohol use and gambling which has now all declined to almost nothing

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BvDb TIL Eritrea, not North Korea, scores as the country with the least media freedom in the world
9Y5ZM TIL In 2011 Toronto, ON installed bike lanes called Jarvis bike lanes at a cost of $59,000 CAD, but shortly after election in 2012 Mayor Rob Ford ordered the lanes removed at a cost of $200,000 CAD.
PYmpV TIL of The World Islands located 2.5 miles off the coast of Dubai in the Persian Gulf. The 300 artificial islands range from 150,000 to 450,000 sq. ft. in area & consist of 321 million cubic metres of sand & 386 million tons of rock.
QNJne TIL - The Great Basin Bristlecone Pine (Pinus Longaeva) has been deemed the oldest tree in existence, reaching an age of over 5,000 years old. The Bristlecone pines' success in living a long life can be attributed to the harsh conditions it lives in.
wooWY TIL The hood ornament on a Rolls Royce, officially called The Spirit of Ecstasy, was based on Eleanor Thornton, a British model and actress, and mistress of Baron Montagu of Beaulieu (and bore him a child), who died on the SS Persia which was sunk in the Mediterranean by a U-Boat during WW I.