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TIL when Abraham Lincoln’s brother-in-law Confederate General Benjamin Helm was killed in battle in 1863, Lincoln and his wife went into private mourning at the White House to avoid criticism. The widowed Emilie Todd Helm was granted safe passage to the White House.

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yVWKe TIL the most successful pirate of all time was a Chinese woman. She became so powerful that she negotiated with the Chinese government to retire in exchange for not being prosecuted and was able to keep a fleet of ships.
epAoE TIL Dutch sailors were responsible for the extinction of the dodo, They hunted the dodo for food and sport, introduced invasive predators like rats and cats that ate the dodo eggs and chicks, and destroyed the dodo’s habitat by deforestation and farming.
9YE06 TIL That Portal 2 had plans for a "Morgan Freeman" sphere which was incredibly wise about the 20x20 room in which it had spent a couple of centuries, but upon taking it out of the room it would get its mind blown and would relate everything back to the 20x20 room.
jNV8N TIL That Chicago is named after an onion. "The name Chicago derives from 17th century French rendering of a Native American term for ramps (Allium tricoccum), a type of edible wild leek, which grew abundantly near the river. The river, and its region, were named after this plant."
XEyl8 TIL that "Nimh" in the movie "Secret of Nimh" stands for "National Institute of Mental Health" and is based on a book about the institute that did horrific studies on rats