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TIL that the California St. Francis Dam disaster of 1928, a midnight-hour 120' wave that killed 431 sleeping people and wiped out giant sections of land more than 50 miles west to Ventura, was caused by the dam having been built on a fault zone (in addition to the dam's retention of water).

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b9Q57 TIL that "red pandas" are actually composed of two distinct species, the chinese and himalayan ones. The chinese are basically more red, and have darker tail raings.
5EWk TIL that Will Smith owed $2.8 Million to the IRS and almost went bankrupt, just before he signed the contract for The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air
8avxP TIL the "infinite monkey" theory was tested in 2003 at the Paignton Zoo (England). After a month, the six monkeys had only produce five pages (consisting mostly of the letter S), partially destroyed the computer, and used it as a lavatory.
0lMp TIL Gunsmoke, the longest running television series of the 20th century, was cancelled so abruptly that CBS didn’t even bother to tell the cast and crew. They read about it in trade publications the next day.
78rkr TIL that Pappy Van Winkle bourbon, which sells for thousands per bottle, was so undesirable for decades that the brand was sold everywhere from "gimmicky decanters shaped like college mascots" in the 1980s to entire privately sold barrels for only $1200 as late as the early 2000s.