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TIL the total cost of the Challenger Space Shuttle recovery by the Navy ($13.1 million) was equal to the street value of a duffle bag of cocaine found during the search

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xVDDB TIL the Thirty Years' War could have only lasted 2 years if it wasn't for Frederick V's refusal to admit defeat, which caused Spain to invade the Holy Roman Empire and force him into exile. The other rulers within the Empire saw the removal of a hereditary prince as a threat and decide to intervene.
b94e9 TIL Cuckoo wasps, like their namesake the cuckoo bird, are kleptoparasitic, having evolved to lay their eggs in the nests of other species of wasps. Their brilliant metallic colors are produced by light refracting through open spaces between six layers of cuticle in the wasps’ exoskeletons.
l7PmV TIL that there is partially completed Tube station under Hampstead Heath, which was abandoned after its American backer was blocked from purchasing land to build a residential area which would provide passengers to use the station
gjgD TIL Eye-wear is getting too costly because a single company Luxottica controls 80% of the major brands in the $28 billion global eyeglasses industry.
EgY9d TIL the last Woolly Mammoth population still existed when the the Pyramid of Giza was being constructed.