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TIL toothpicks are made from birch wood

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XOWE TIL M.C. Escher created a recursive print called “Print Gallery” that he was unable to complete because of the complexity of the remaining region. A pair of Dutch mathematicians recently modeled the geometry of the print and completed the illustration.
xVOP0 TIL about Pumped-Storage Hydroelectricity, in which thousands of gallons of water are pumped to a reservoir at a higher elevation using off-peak electricity, then released to turn turbines and produce electricity at a later date. It's a non-chemical form of battery.
Jyov TIL The French government blew up the flagship of the environmental activist group Greenpeace, killing a photographer in the process.
wLeDE TIL an indigenous language in Mexico nearly died out in 2007 after the last two remaining speakers stopped talking to each other
X0rRQ TIL after the 9/11 attacks, fires continued to burn in lower Manhattan for 99 days after. Eventually, the pile stabilized enough that construction crews could start using excavators and other heavy equipment. Ironworkers hung from tall cranes and cut the buildings down “like trees.”