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TIL the "Redwood of the East" - a 100ft-tall tree that once covered 25% of Eastern US forests, produced tons of food, and built America's industrial backbone - lost 99.9% of its population to a catastrophic blight.

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oRKL7 TIL The Battle of Karánsebes which was a friendly fire incident that killed over 150 people and left 1200 wounded. It started as a dispute over Schnapps.
wVk7 TIL Norwegian adventurer Thor Heyerdahl crossed the Pacific in 1947 in a self-built raft to prove ancient people could have made contact between the continents
LmbQ TIL the standard “headphone jack” connector has been roughly the same since 1878
GYl95 TIL Alheira de Mirandela, a kosher bread sausage was invented in Portugal to help hide Jews from the Spanish inquisition. Jews had fled to Portugal from Spain & pretended to be Catholic, Catholic homes hung preserved meat sausages from the rafters, & Jews were conspicuous for their missing sausages
yV5gV TIL : Crayfish burrows are made in lawns, called "Mud Chimneys"