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TIL about "Uncleftish Beholding," an essay written in a version of English that removes loan words, especially scientific ones, from Latin, Greek, or French, and replaces them with real or invented terms using only words with Germanic roots. "Uncleftish Beholding" translates as atomic theory.

ejW5 TIL that “muskeg”, very damp soil, is why northern Ontario is almost uninhabited. Sometimes 100 feet deep or more, unless completely cleared it freezes and buckles construction in winter, and swallows anything left (locomotives, construction equipment, moose, etc.) when it thaws in the spring.
myjP TIL that the average hunter gatherer had more leisure time than a typical working adult does today.
mDPo TIL that in the 1890’s Emperor Menelek of Ethiopia was impressed by the new method of execution in the USA, the electric chair. He ordered three to be sent to his palace only to learn he needed electricity to use them. He gave two away and used the last chair as a throne.
W7Ya8 TIL about MS St. Louis, a refugee ship that left Hamburg in May 1939 carrying a load of passengers, most of them Jewish refugees bound for Cuba. They were subsequently turned away by Cuba, the US, and Canada. The ship was forced to dock at Antwerp, and the passengers divvied up to various countries.
mxZLx TIL that cutting beef consumption in favour of chicken and plant proteins could liberate 28 million square kms of land - the size of the US, Canada and China combined.