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TIL In 1924, a man named W.O. Bashman found a 40.23 carat diamond in Murfreesboro, Arkansas. Nicknamed the "Uncle Sam Diamond," it was the largest diamond ever discovered in North America. It was later cut down to 12.42 carats and sold for $150,000 in 1971 (about $800,000 today).

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6EjRX TIL Christopher Columbus' efforts to obtain support for his voyages were hampered not by belief in a flat Earth but by valid worries that the East Indies were farther than he realized. In fact, Columbus grossly underestimated the Earth's circumference and caused he and his crew's near starvation.
wLJkJ TIL the spices mace and nutmeg are produced by the same plant
5VMwQ TIL one survey claimed that 75% of avid readers were satisfied with their lives, compared to 58% of non-avid readers, and also claimed that the average income of avid readers was 12.5% higher.
kJ4AE TIL In the 1980s pharmaceutical giant Bayer discovered their blood clotting drug was tainted with the HIV virus. Instead of scrapping the drug and taking a loss they sold it to unknowinging countries in Asia and South America leading to thousands becoming infected.
ywwl TIL: A species of Japanese crab evolved to have a shell resembling the face of a samurai warrior. Those crabs survived better because fisherman admired them and threw them back in the ocean.