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TIL the oldest surviving Alt History work is in Book 9 of Livy's History of Rome, in which he muses about Alexander the Great turning West and invading Rome

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1a5Qd TIL that Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, President and General of the Mexican Army that won the battle of the Alamo, introduced the United States to chewing gum when he returned years later as a businessman.
6k4m TIL Alaska has for almost 40 years paid all its residents more than $1,000 per year as a dividend from the state’s tax revenues from oil. A decision has been made to use the wealth from oil to activate all residents rather than to expand the state’s public budget.
rRv91 TIL The reason Roman structures survive so long is because they used volcanic ash in their concrete, which slowly transforms to aluminum tobermorite when exposed to sea water. Something modern scientists have been trying to do for decades.
b9Qd0 TIL Liberty Island — which the Statue of Liberty stands on — belongs to New York, but the waters around it belong to New Jersey.
Z8wOY TIL that Paul Bateson, who played the radiographer in The Exorcist's surgery scene, is a convicted murderer whose current whereabouts are unknown.