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TIL some streets in Old San Juan, PR are paved with blue cobblestones, called adoquines, and were made from the waste, or slag, that resulted from iron smelting, then cast into blocks and brought to the island as ballasts in the bottoms of 18th-century Spanish ships.

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QNMX9 TIL that a politician from the United Kingdom, John Bell, believed that he was a bird, stating that he could fly much better than a bird, because he kept his shoulders oiled. Despite his state of mind, he remained a Member of Parliament until his death in 1851.
grjJ7 TIL the codex, the precursor to modern books, emerged in the 1st century CE as a better alternative to scrolls. Inspired by Roman wax tablets, it used durable parchment folded into sheets, making it more practical and compact—one of the biggest advances in bookmaking before the printing press.
BV7L TIL during the Iraq war, the US military was in the habit of leaving items such as detonation cords, plastic explosives and ammunition laying about, and then when an Iraqi came upon it, they were considered fair game to be killed if they attempted to leave with the goods. This was called ‘baiting’.
oom7 TIL Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack are widely credited with helping end segregation in Las Vegas, by refusing to perform in venues that wouldn’t allow blacks
PmBO TIL Mexican jumping beans are inhabited by the larvae of a small moth that spasms when the bean is heated. They attempt to move the bean to a cooler environment to avoid dehydration and death.