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TIL Improbable Research tested the limits of the United States Postal Service by sending a variety of unusual unpackaged items then documenting how many were delivered.

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1anOd TIL that Spanish conquistadors in America didn't realize the true value and rarity of platinum and only cared about gold, but counterfeiters would use platinum to make fake gold and silver, so the Spaniards would dump any confiscated platinum into the sea to try and combat this forging problem
OoAje TIL that Finland's Lågskär island lighthouse contained the world's first rotating gas lighting device
N70gN TIL that one of the Jin Dyansty Emperors was so disastrous that after being assassinated, he was posthumously demoted to a prince, and later demoted to a commoner
Brxme TIL There's a building in Osaka that has a highway running through it as tenants
R7Jdl TIL: in the 1960s a boy smuggled in three giant African snails into Florida, and later released them. Within seven years there were an estimated 18,000 of the creatures in the wild, taking 10 years and over $1M to eradicate.