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TIL General Tso's chicken is named for Chinese general Tso Tsung-t'ang (1812-1885), best known for recapturing the great western desert region of Xinjiang. Popular in the US, there is no record of any dish named after General Tso in his region of Hunan

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BrEky TIL that because of Uranus’ axial tilt, it “rolls” around the sun like a marble. It’s poles each experience 42 years of light and 42 years of darkness during the summer and winter solstices.
wojW1 TIL that the two great baroque composers Johann Sebastian Bach and Georg Friedrich Händel were both blinded by the same eye surgeon and known medical charlatan, John Taylor
OkB1 TIL a monkey’s fist knot is used as the weight in heaving a line between ship and dock. Recognizing their potential, drunken sailors began using them as melee weapons in street and bar fights with the knot eventually being adopted by street gangs of the 19th century.
JYVNj TIL Nord Kamal Mosque in Norilsk, Russia is the most northerly-situated mosque in the world. Norilsk's minaret tower, which is generally supposed to have a round shape, has a square base, because in such walls, the bricks do not freeze and they are more resistant to wind loads
4XVow TIL maize, beans and squash, the three main agricultural crops of Native Americans were named Three Sisters by them for their symbiotic relationship when grown together. Maize gives structure for the beans to climb, beans provides nitrogen to the soil and squash spread-grows preventing weed growth.