› added 11 years ago

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TIL that the Greater Honeyguide, a bird from sub-Saharan Africa, leads humans to bee colonies and, after we take the honey, feeds on the larvae and beeswax. It seems to only use humans and likely evolved this behaviour with early men. Honeyguides may be mankind’s oldest buds, even before dogs.

rRv1e TIL that Sam Houston, famous for being president of the Republic of Texas, refused to join the Confederate States of America, predicting that they would lose the civil war. Instead he pushed for the re establishment of an independent Texas.
EggwP TIL that the character Koba from Planet of the Apes (2010s) is named after Joseph Stalin, who also used "Koba" as his nickname. The name originally comes from a character in a Georgian book called The Patricide, which inspired Stalin.
VLZZ TIL that lawyers and attorneys are different; lawyers study law whereas attorneys practice it.
GEmQ TIL pornography is legal in the US even though prostitution is not, because it is illegal to pay one explicitly for sex, but the participants in a film/photo are paid to act and are protected under the first amendment to take part in sexual acts as part of the act.
4kNZX TIL of one of the worst maritime disasters in US history,the explosion and sinking of the steamboat Sultana. Designed to carry 376, 2500 civil war veterans crowded the decks, desperate to get home. It was completely overshadowed by the death of Lincoln’s assassin, John Wilkes Booth, a day earlier.