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TIL that Serbo-Croatian is a language comprising of four mutually intelligible variants and is the official language of 5 countries. It has 5 different names (not related to the countries) and can be written in both Latin and Cryllic script.

VM8Qm TIL that a woodpecker twists its head and opens its beak on each impact to be able to remove itself from the hole. If it didn't, its beak would become stuck like a nail hammered into wood
8eQR8 TIL The Bingham Canyon Mine in Utah is almost 4000 feet deep (that's 3X as tall as the Empire State Building). It's the largest man-made excavation and the deepest open-pit mine in the world. It's also visible to the naked eye from space.
R7bJ4 TIL that hours before being killed by a massive heart attack at 51, James Gandolfini dined on a double order of fried king prawns and a pile of foie gras washed down with two pina coladas, four shots of rum, and a couple beers.
nWPPo TIL in a 1990 World Cup Qualifier, with Brazil leading 1-0 over Chile, the Chilean GK purposely cut himself with a razor blade hidden in his glove. He then pretended to be hurt by unruly Brazilian fans. He was soon caught and permanently banned from playing; Chile was also banned from the 1994 WC.
QJpJL TIL a 1998 space simulation experiment put 7 men and a woman in a replica of the space station Mir for several months. After 110 days, the drunken space commander had assaulted the female researcher, threatened to murder another, and one participant fled the experiment early.