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TIL the Thirteen Colonies were used as a penal colony for English criminals between the 1600s to 1776. Historians estimate between 50,000 to 120,000 criminals were transfered. After America's indepedence the Brits tried to substitute America with Ghana and Senegal, ultimately deciding on Australia.

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5VmB8 TIL that the stationary lifestyle of barnacles makes sexual reproduction difficult, as they cannot leave their shells to mate. To compensate, they evolved to have the largest penis to body size ratio of the animal kingdom: up to eight times their body length.
wLjjW TIL Until 2007, Russian astronauts were issued a sawed off shotgun and machete to fight off Siberian bears and other wildlife upon landing back on Earth. They are now issued a semi-automatic pistol.
9Zyp TIL A small jumping spider named Euophrys omnisuperstes (which means ‘standing above everything else’) lives at elevations of up to 6,700 metres on Mount Everest, making it the highest known permanent resident on earth.
kJ684 TIL the Quiznos sandwich chain, once a common sight with its catchy slogan "Mmm... Toasty!" and 4700 locations in 2007, suffered a steep decline and closed over 90% of its stores within the following ten years. This event goes down in industry history as the largest and swiftest collapse.
jN8gN TIL a single type of MP3 player, the S1 one, was sold under dozens of different brand names, including counterfeits of iPod, Samsung and Sony trademarks, and with various case designs.