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379

TIL that the mountain K2 (the 2nd highest in the world) was named such as a placeholder, literally "the 2nd peak in the Karakoram mountain range". it stuck because the mountain is so remote that no one else had given it a name.

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9VPM TIL that although Mississippi has one of the lowest per capita income rates in the United States, Mississippians consistently rank as one of the highest per capita in charitable contributions
78pOL TIL, Operation Paperclip was a secret United States intelligence program in which more than 1,600 German scientists, engineers, and technicians were taken from the former Nazi Germany to the U.S. for government employment after the end of World War II in Europe, between 1945 and 1959.
mOvO TIL in 1992, the Grateful Dead read an article about poverty threatening to keep newly-independent Lithuania’s basketball team out of the Olympics. The Dead funded the team. The tie-dye-uniformed Lithuanian’s won the bronze medal.
6EOl7 TIL Golden rice is a variety of rice produced through genetic engineering to biosynthesize beta-carotene. It is intended to be consumed in areas with a shortage of dietary vitamin A. Vitamin A deficiency each year is estimated to kill 670,000 children under the age of 5
awgGM TIL Comedian Jenny Slate was effectively fired from SNL after accidentaly uttering the word "fucking" in the first scene of her first episode on the show. The experience led her to develop stage fright which she had to overcome through therapy