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TIL PT Barnum bought a blind, elderly slave with a shrunken appearance and toured the country with her while claiming she was 161 years old and had breastfed George Washington when he was a baby. When she died, Barnam then sold her to a surgeon and had her autopsy performed live on Broadway.

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XEKbD TIL that Admiral Sir William James, born in 1881, was, as a young child, the model for a famous painting titled "Bubbles" which was subsequently used to advertise Pears Soap. This fame dogged him throughout his life and he was regularly nicknamed "Bubbles", much to his chagrin.
7GAx TIL that the area that is now the Mediterranean Sea was once dry, but about 5 million years ago the Atlantic Ocean poured through the Strait of Gibraltar at a rate 1000 times that of the Amazon, filling the Mediterranean Sea in about 2 years.
Eg90d TIL the shortest war in history, the Anglo-Zanzibar War of 1896, lasted only 38-45 minutes. The UK fought the Zanzibar Sultanate over a new Sultan who did not have British approval. The outcome was a puppet government with heavy British influence over Zanzibar.
VBwGZ TIL that traditional lacquer is made w urushiol sap, aka the rash-causing toxin in poison ivy & poison oak. In fact, "urushi" (as in "urushi-ol") is the Japanese for the Chinese lacquer tree (also toxic) & an English word for lacquerware. They all fall in the genus Toxicodendron, or "poison tree".
8areL TIL what to do if you come across a baby bird in the wild. It's normal for fledglings to be on the ground, move them to a safe location (in the bushes, etc) close to where they are only if necessary. Their parents are nearby. Misguidedly "rescuing" them often leads to their death. Call wildlife line