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TIL Trees emerged 350 million years ago. It took another 60 million years for wood-eating bacteria to evolve. Trees between this period eventually turned into the most of the coal we use today.

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9YwRQ TIL that wild turkey were hunted to extinction in New England by about 1850. The turkey were reintroduced to the region by transplant only in the 1970s.
l7lmA TIL that the name of Burkina Faso blends two different languages spoken in the country, Burkina means "upright" in Mossi, Faso means "fatherland" in Dioula, and the full name is intended to translate as "land of the honest men".
AXJg TIL 40 years ago today , the Cleveland Indians staged Ten Cent Beer Night at their home stadium - and it ended with a riot, the Texas Rangers leaving the field armed with bats, and the Indians forfeiting the game.
LyD0 TIL that the Soviet Union did not admit that a reactor had exploded at Chernobyl until nearly 3 days after radiation from the disaster set off alarms at a nuclear plant in Sweden 1000 km away.
rvnx TIL vintners sold wine bricks during the prohibition with the explicit warning not to leave the juice from them in a jug in the cool cupboard for 21 days, or it would turn into wine.