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TIL Lawns take up nearly 2 percent of the surface of the continental United States, making turf grass—not corn—America’s largest irrigated crop.

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rNGdy TIL in 1907, passengers arriving at Ellis Island had to pass a medical exam to enter the US. Doctors used a secret code to mark passenger's clothes with chalk: 'H' indicated heart trouble suspected; 'L' suspected lameness, and 'X' suspected feeble-mindedness.
WklgN TIL that in 2015, the city of Toronto took too long to pick a dead raccoon off the sidewalk so Torontoans made a memorial to it.
BLGx TIL In 1970 the Oregon Highway Division attempted to blow up a washed ashore dead sperm whale, using half a ton of dynamite, to dispose of its rotting carcass. The explosion threw whale flesh over 800 feet away, crushing cars and almost killing bystanders.
XE6X TIL that if a Boeing 747 filled with Blu-Ray disks flew from New York to Los Angeles, it would achieve a data transfer rate of over 30,000 GB/s
699GW TIL beetles constitute almost 40% of described insects and 25% of all known animal life-forms