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TIL Thomas Jefferson sent a giant moose carcass to Paris to prove that America’s animals were bigger than Europe’s

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via reddit.com

xVoZ7 TIL that in 2013, after more than 20 years of soda being America's number one beverage, water has taken over as Americans' favorite drink.
bR1E TIL that one man is responsible for saving ‘a billion lives’ by developing different strains of wheat crop, thereby averting predicted famines.
9YpKB TIL Einstein mused that he would have liked to have been a plumber, and promptly was awarded honorary membership in the plumbers’ union
6ERZJ TIL the earliest of several attempts to ban coffee took place in Mecca 1511 CE. Its effects on the mind were decided to be as intoxicating as alcoholic drinks, and therefore was banned on religious grounds. It was overturned later as coffee has been shown to sharpen instead of dull the senses.
rR6v4 TIL that the United States' first department store was created in Utah, and lasted around 130 years before being sold to the Macy's Corporation