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TIL than in the 1850’s the entire city of Chicago was raised 5-10 feet with hydraulic jacks to improve drainage and make room for water and sewer lines, in response to outbreaks of typhoid fever and cholera.

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6EedW TIL Milling is a training activity in the British airborne infantry. For a fixed period, two opponents punch each other in the head as aggressively as possible without evasion. An instructor described milling as "arguably the most important event of the [training] course"and its "flagship event"
v1Qa4 TIL that giraffes, zebras and other exotic animals are actually running wild in some parts of Texas, taking a toll on the natural resources.
N9a6 TIL of Hyonseo Lee, a North Korean defector who spent years helping her family escape to South Korea. When her family was arrested and held near the embassy, Lee could not afford the bribe to free them–a stranger from abroad heard her story and paid it. Lee and her family now live in South Korea.
yVO6e TIL cats were a common wedding gift among Vikings due to their association with the goddess of luck, Freyja. Men favored women who loved cats, believing that it increased the likelihood of a happy marriage.
lopNB TIL An extinct penguin-like bird, The Great Auk, ranged as far south as northern Spain and along the coastlines of Canada, Greenland, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Norway, Ireland, and Great Britain. It lived with humans for centuries until it was seen as "resource" and was extinct by 1852.