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64

TIL mayday as a distress call is French M'aider.

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wLdQY TIL of John Kissinger, who volunteered for the yellow fever experiments in 1900 and refused payment, stating that his actions "were solely in the interest of humanity and the cause of science"
W70JN TIL the Low German language is more closely related to English than to Standard German, as Low German and English are classified as North Sea Germanic languages, whereas Standard German is an Elbe Germanic language
JYk6v TIL that the iconic couple in the "American Gothic" painting are actually father and daughter, not husband and wife.
e09Mn TIL that India's Mars probe cost less than the film Gravity.
e01yD TIL that the Wollemia nobilis is considered so rare, scientists have to take a blindfolded helicopter ride if they want to study it, in order to keep the location of the trees a secret.