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TIL Until the 18th century, India was the only source of diamonds in the world for nearly 2325 years. When the Indian diamond mines were depleted, the quest for alternate sources began and this led to discovery of diamonds in Brazil in 1725,

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yQeWw TIL that Earth Day was conceived by a Wisconsin Senator named Gaylord Nelson after witnessing a massive oil spill in Santa Barbara, California
em4k TIL that you might see an illusion or even a creepy monster if you stare at your reflection in a mirror long enough. This phenomenon, known as psychomanteum, dates back to Ancient Greece, where a person would gaze into a still pool of water to communicate with spirits.
JYV91 TIL that Seattle's Sound Transit renamed its proposed "Red Line" rail because the name evoked "redlining," the historic practice of denying mortgage loans to poor, mostly minority, neighborhoods, which further impoverished them.
OoOPL TIL Nazis built a concentration camp on the isle of Alderney in the British isles
LkMa0 TIL Scientists put slime mold onto a model of a map of Tokyo, with food representing urban centers. After a day, it created a network almost identical to Tokyo’s actual rail network. Human designers created that network to be as efficient as possible; slime mold did the same, but without a brain