› added 1 year ago

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TIL of the Cypress of Kashmar, a tree said to have been planted by the son-in-law of the prophet Zoroaster, that at 1400 years of age was chopped down by the Abbasid Caliph Motavakol because he wanted it brought to him and "reassembled" in Baghdad. He was assassinated soon after it was chopped down.

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QNjoX TIL that in 1977 and 1979, several petitions were signed by a number of prominent French intellectuals, doctors, and psychologists calling for reforms to or the abolition of the French age-of-consent law.
jDnp TIL in 1955 Jack Daniel’s was selling about 150,000 cases annually of its black-labeled Tennessee whiskey. That year Frank Sinatra endorsed the liquor during a performance. Because of that, by the end of 1956 Jack Daniel’s sold about 300,000 cases
6EL8l TIL a 9 yr old Pakistani girl, Arfa Karim, was the youngest Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP) until 2008. When she suffered cardiac arrest in 2011, Bill Gates assembled an international panel of doctors to advise the local physicians treating her and offered to pay for treatment in the U.S.
VMwWk TIL that polydactyly (having many fingers) in cats was seen by sailors as advantageous for catching mice aboard ships. Consequently there is a high proportion of these cats in sea port areas such as Boston, Nova Scotia and Great Britain.
n5XW TIL Tadeusz Kosciuszko, a Polish war hero who helped win the American Revolutionary War, left his property in the USA to be sold to educate and free Thomas Jefferson’s and other slaves. As executor, Jefferson never acted on the will and no slaves were freed.