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TIL the United States is second behind China in the consumption of illegal animal products like ivory, rhinoceros horn and tiger blood

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rXv1 TIL Gin and Tonic were originally created by the British East India Company as a way to get soldiers to have quinine to prevent and treat malaria. Quinine (in tonic) was too bitter. In order to get them to drink the tonic officers added the solders’ gin rations with sugar, lime and water.
BrK1K TIL I learned the source of the internet myth that Mr. Rogers was a sniper: The screenwriters of A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood say they discovered in their research that there was another Fred Rogers who was a sharpshooter for the Marines, and his self-promotion confused a lot of people online
97JQ TIL A Verizon developer outsourced his work to china to browse Reddit and watch cat videos all day
VwgD TIL in 1372 when architect Yi Kaizhan was commisioned to build the Jiayuguan fort, a pass along the Great Wall, he ordered the exact number of bricks required. He added one more when his judgement was questioned. The extra brick was never used.
BrlD TIL the first man made aircraft to land on another planet and send back data was the Soviet Venera 7 in 1970. After successfully landing on Venus, the craft sent back only 23 minutes of weak data, presumably because it landed on its side.