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TIL while there are more than 1300 species of insects in Iceland, no species of mosquitoes have yet been discovered, except the one preserved in the Natural History Museum, found in an airplane from Greenland in the 1980s.

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oBmkr TIL that "Baby Got Back" by Sir Mix-a-lot was a call to see beauty in diversity. Sir Mix-a-lot used the song to blame the media for skewing the notion of beauty and hoped his music would empower women of all shapes and sizes.
XERnD TIL the famously isolated Sentinelese hunter-gatherer tribe appear not to know how to set fire. They rely on natural fire from thunderstorms and keep the embers burning as long as they can.
b9lQ9 TIL the largest British ship lost at sea, the MV Derbyshire at 92,000 tons, went down in a typhoon off Japan without ever issuing a mayday call. Investigators found the wreck and concluded the entire sinking could have happened in as little as two minutes. This video simulation is real time.
VMy9B TIL chess was originally known as chaturaṅga, literally four divisions [of the military] in Sanskrit. The pieces represented infantry, cavalry, elephants, and chariotry and would later evolve into the modern pawn, knight, bishop, and rook.
JYewj TIL that modern orchestras tune to an oboe because its penetrating sound stands out from the orchestra, so it's easy for all the musicians to hear.