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TIL An African slave named Onesimus taught colonists in Boston how to inoculate themselves against smallpox; the treatment had been common in China and Africa for centuries!

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Xgdj TIL in 1974, a then-unknown Queen performed at an Australian festival to a mean-spirited, drunken crowd. Before finishing, Freddie Mercury told them that Queen would be “one of the biggest bands in the world” the next time they visited. When they came back, they were at the top of the charts.
E1Z0p TIL the avocado industry in Mexico is so big that the Mexican cartel for years took over farms through extortion. But the city of Tancítaro, the world capital of avocado production, took back their farms back by arming their citizens, building their own police, and bulletproofing their trucks.
rNDld TIL in the early 20th century, in order to prevent smells and occasional explosions, the United Kingdom installed "Sewer Gas Destructor Lamps." The street lamps, connected to sewer vents, generated heat which would draw up gases to the lanterns. The odors and bacteria would burn off in the flames.
m1loo TIL A video game called JFK:Reloaded was released in 2004, where you get to play as Oswald and score points for killing Kennedy the same way it happened historically.
6EAN7 TIL that Canada has a government-sanctioned cartel to control global maple syrup prices and supply, and has been called "the OPEC of the maple syrup world" by The Economist. A barrel of syrup is worth 10-18 times the value of U.S. crude oil.