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TIL Carrot Top is the son of a NASA engineer

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YpQG7 TIL Djibouti author Abdourahman Waberi wrote a story about a world in which Africa was more advanced compared to the West. In her writing, Zurich held the highest rate of AIDS infections and African leaders were making broad pronouncements about the hoards of impoverished, starving Japanese
mxjwE TIL that after Mao Zhedong promised China's steel production would one day surpass England's and America's, many children born in 1958 and 1959 were named 'Chaoying' ('Surpass England') or 'Chaomei' ('Overtake America').
WkdvB TIL researchers have mapped the genome of the Indian cobra (Naja naja). They found 12,000 genes expressed in the venom glands; of these, 139 help create toxins, and a subset of 19 genes cause paralysis/nausea/internal bleeding. It forms the platform to synthesize an ideal antidote to the cobra bite.
p60e TIL that the US government paid an average of $1.8 million to the families of the victims of 9/11
GA7Y5 TIL about thick water, which is used to help people with difficulties swallowing stay hydrated