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TIL the Thanksgiving Turkey presented to the U.S. President each year was originally intended to be slaughtered for the White House Thanksgiving dinner-- It was George H.W. Bush that established the currently ongoing tradition of presenting the turkey with a Presidential Pardon, sparing its life.

4koXJ TIL that Alexander Bogdanov, a Russian scientist, experimented with blood transfusions from younger individuals for rejuvenation. He tragically died after transfusing blood from a student with malaria and tuberculosis, though the student miraculously recovered.
JYeMV TIL that most indigenous communities who paint their bodies live in areas where there is an abundance of bloodsucking horseflies, mosquitoes, or tsetse flies - and a 2019 study showed that white, painted stripes on the body protect skin from insect bites, hence protecting them from airborne diseases
x6o41 TIL one of Stanford University's Founders may have been killed by its first President
JYbpv TIL the second version of the confederate flag was almost entirely white to symbolize the "Heaven-ordained supremacy of the white man over the inferior or colored race". The design was changed after confederate soldiers complained that it looked too much like the white flag of defeat.
N7xBN TIL the maned wolf (Chrysocyon brachyurus) is the largest canid of South America. It is neither a fox nor a wolf. It is the only species in the genus Chrysocyon which literally means "golden dog", and it communicates mainly by scent markings and a kind of "roar-barking." Its urine smells like weed.