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TIL there’s a floating island the size of a football field in Springfield, Massachusetts that destroys fences and sheds as it occasionally moves around.

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NXPG1 TIL Theodore Maiman made the first laser operate in 1960 by shining a high-power flash lamp on a ruby rod with silver-coated surfaces. He promptly submitted a short report of the work to the journal Physical Review Letters, but the editors turned it down.
PYlyV TIL Since 1835, the Cherokee and Choctaw Nations both have the right to send a non-voting delegate to Congress. They have never done so.
5yZ8 TIL DJ Khaled’s original stage name was Arab Attack, which he changed shortly after the 9/11 attacks.
pg0O TIL that Chicago had a huge heatwave in 1995 that killed hundreds, and that 41 victims’ bodies were never claimed. They were buried in a mass grave in Homewood, Illinois.
yOww TIL Confederates emigrated (in the largest exodus in US history) to Brazil, where they remain to this day. Their Brazilian descendants eat peaches, wear hoop skirts, and sing “Dixie”.