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TIL there was a 500 BC predecessor to Suez canal, connecting the Nile and Red sea, thus enabling a single water route to Malabar (India) from Rome. It had water locks to solve the higher elevation of sea than the inlands

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m1RKx TIL Burlington, Ontario closes a section of King Road for annual migration of the Jefferson salamander.
WraA TIL: Gay Turkish men can avoid military service by providing photographs of themselves having sex. But only if they are the passive partner, and their face is clearly visible in the photo.
0aJ5 TIL The Simpsons was nearly cancelled before its first episode. When the first episode came back, the animation was so appalling that the staff considered halting show production. 70% of the animation had to be redone before it could air.
Jx7B TIL Tesla runs an entire island on solar power. The island of Ta'u in American Samoa used to consume 300 gallons of diesel fuel daily to run generators, fuel that had to be bought and shipped, but Tesla’s solar panels and power packs provide 6 megawatt-hours of energy storage
40yo TIL that 7th Century general Khalid bin al-Waleed swallowed poison to demonstrate how much of a hard-ass he was. Instantly shrugging it off because he’d built up resistance since childhood, his enemy immediately surrendered.