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TIL that Abraham Lincoln was offered honorary citizenship of the Republic of San Marino in 1861. He accepted, writing “Although your dominion is small, your State is nevertheless one of the most honored, in all history.”

Read more history.state.gov

via reddit.com

4kp5b TIL of the California Genocide, the killing of thousands of indigenous peoples of CA by US government agents and private citizens in the 19th century. Between 1846 & 1873, it is estimated that non-Natives killed between 9,462 and 16,094 California Natives. Most of the deaths were village massacres.
7ZXL TIL Cats cannot taste anything sweet. Instead, they can taste ATP, the biomolecule that supplies energy within living cells (meat).
xVdMD TIL Tom Lehrer's famous song "Poisoning Pigeons In The Park" was inspired by the City of Boston doing exactly that. The city spread strychnine-laced corn in its public parks to reduce the pigeon population
j648X TIL the human body can naturally settle into a sleep-wake cycle of up to 50 hours, when there's no day/night cycle to observe. In 1962 geologist Michel Siffre entered a darkened cave, where he planned to remain for two months tracking time assuming 1 sleep equals one day, but he was off by 2 weeks.
4Vgb TIL: Facial hair is as strong as copper wire of equal diameter.