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TIL The word “colonel” is spelled that way due to the word’s Italian origin (“colonello”) but pronounced “ker-nel” due to the Spanish pronunciation of the word (“coronel”).

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dg1E TIL that Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and Guam are independently participating in the Olympic games even though they are US territories and the athletes are US Citizens.
GAMD1 TIL that Sweden once had overseas colonies in Africa, India, South America, the Caribbean, and North America. Most were taken over by other European powers after a short amount of time; the only exception was the island of Saint Barthélemy, which it held for nearly a century.
XEGYX TIL of a parasitic fungus called cordyceps that infects ants. Once a spore finds a host it grows a network of roots inside, delivering chemicals that will eventually give the fungus full control of the ant, using the body to reach a suitable place to grow. It anchors down with its jaws, permanently.
b6Mkp TIL the supercentenarian Lucile Randon, who died in 2023 at the age of 118, had a twin sister named Lydie who passed away in 1905 at just 18 months old. Lucile used to say in interviews that she was living "two lives"—her own and that of her twin sister, who died when she was still a baby.
4Xgy6 TIL There is a liquid that you can breathe in called perfluorohexane. Animals can be submerged in a bath of perfluorohexane without drowning. It is odorless and colorless.