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TIL that the writer of “Jingle Bells” fought for the Confederacy in the Civil War even though he was from Massachusetts and his father was a chaplain in the Union army.

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gvZ8 TIL Venice Island was built on a foundation of tree trunks. 1200 years later, those same trunks still support almost all of central Venice.
EgxOW TIL that the list of big banks in 1988 is dominated by Japanese institutions, which captured the first 10 spots and 17 of the top 25.
woJWW TIL the Empire State Building was referred to as the Empty State Building during the Great Depression. One original tenant, a jeweler, had a place there from 1931 to 2008
d85P9 Today I learned that Hans Zimmer plays keys in the Video killed the radio star video
nepL9 TIL of Mauro Prosperi who survived for 9 days alone in the Saharan Desert on a diet of urine and bats after becoming disoriented and travelling nearly 200 miles in the wrong direction during an endurance event. He was found in Algeria despite the race taking part in Morocco