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TIL one of the torture methods used in gulags was putting the prisoner in a dark box filled with thousands of bedbugs.

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XEPVQ TIL that bears are considered by many wildlife biologists to be one of the most intelligent land animals of North America. They possess the largest and most convoluted brains relative to their size of any land mammal. In the animal kingdom, their intelligence compares with that of higher primates.
M7pgW TIL some moths drink blood
yVe4J TIL Japan has a 'wind phone'. An unconnected phone booth where grieving relatives go to 'talk' to their lost loved ones. Opened after the 2011 Fukushima earthquake/tsunami, it has seen over 30,000 visitors.
BrjEx TIL that the Exeter Book, written in the 10th century and commonly seen as a building block of English literature, has been used as both a cutting board and a coaster; the opening pages have deep knife marks, and several folios of the book are stained with a circular ring
a8mP9 TIL that the ancient name of Beijing, China was "Khanbaliq", from the Mongolian meaning "City of the Khan". This was the name used during Marco Polo's travels