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TIL that The Royal Game of Ur is the oldest known board game in the world. The oldest set found is of Ancient Sumerian from the 3rd millennium BC. It was popular for several thousand years, and for good reason. Here is the game explained by Dr. Irving Finkel (it actually looks fun)

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via reddit.com

4Po6 TIL the flags of Monaco, Indonesia, Alsace, Vienna, Salzburg, Hesse, and the Swiss canton of Solothurn are essentially identical, differing only in proportion.
X00EX TIL Roger Bacon who lived from around 1214 to 1292. In his Epistola de Secretis Operibus, he wrote: “Cars can be made so that without animals they will move with unbelievable rapidity,” and “flying machines can be constructed by which artificial wings are made to beat the air like a flying bird.”
YREv TIL that the last meal is based on a superstition from pre-modern Europe. By accepting the last meal, the condemned was believed to forgive the executioner, the judge, and witness(es). This would prevent the condemned from returning as a ghost to haunt those responsible for their killing.
dkP8 TIL a lot of shelters won’t allow black cats to be adopted around Halloween, out of fear that they might be sacrificed or tortured during rituals.
5Vman TIL the heart has its own mini "brain" that can send information and emotions to the main brain.