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TIL standard classroom maps are based on the Mercator projection, a 16th century rendition that shows disproportionate sizes of continents, resulting in widespread misconceptions of geography.

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yVA8v TIL in 1989 a man bought a painting for $4 at a flea market mostly because he liked the frame. He discovered a document behind the canvas. It was an official copy of the first printing of the Declaration of Independence. Only 23 were known to exist. He sold it at auction for $2.42 million in 1991.
yr4J TIL Israel has laws requiring photos of models that have been digitally retouched to be labeled as such.
j618M TIL almost all rice contains arsenic, a Group 1 carcinogen. Research found that 50% of rice consumed in the United Kingdom intended for infant consumption exceeded the required levels of arsenic. However, scientists found a method of cooking rice that removes much of the arsenic.
nexnW TIL on May 24, 1996, a drive-in theater in Canada was destroyed by a tornado when the theater was scheduled to show the 1996 disaster movie ‘Twister’. In ‘Twister,’ a scene parallels the exact event of the theater destruction by a tornado during a showing of ‘The Shining.’
W5A4 TIL during the Manhattan Project, a production race was held between two calutrons, one run by “hillbilly” girls and the other run by Ph.Ds. The girls won the contest because “the scientists could not refrain from time-consuming investigation of the cause of even minor fluctuations of the dials”