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TIL On November 27, 1941 a group of residents in Siskiyou County, California, blocked off U.S. Route 99, armed with hunting rifles, and declared independence, proclaiming the formation of the State of Jefferson.

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gMAJ7 TIL that Marthe Richard, a French prostitute, was the 13th woman to hold a piloting license, a spy during WW1 and the legatee of Rockefeller Foundation's financial director. After WW2 she started politics. A law named after her outlawed prostitution in France and 1,400 brothels were closed.
PYRen TIL in 1865 Elizabeth Garrett Anderson became the first woman to qualify as a medical doctor in Britain. On the day, 3 out of 7 candidates passed the exam, Garrett with the highest marks. The Society of Apothecaries immediately amended its regulations to prevent other women obtaining a licence.
7k7Z TIL Guangzhou gets its cat meat from a fringe network of “catnappers” who snatch strays all over the country. Catnappers are paid 10 yuan per head for their catch, allowing them to earn about $30 a night.
4j4R TIL that some orthodox Jewish communities have volunteer ambulance services which survive solely on donations. They don’t bill the patient for transporting them to the hospital, have a faster response time than most ambulance companies, and don’t exclusively service Jews.
4kbPa TIL that Uzbekistan has a high-speed (>124 mph/200 km/h for upgraded tracks and >155 mph/250 km/h for new tracks) rail network bigger than US, 370 mi/600 km vs 49.9 mi/80.3 km