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TIL In 1911, the federal government banned the cultivation, sale, and transport of blackcurrants to protect the white pine.

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4k6a5 TIL Alice Hamilton was the first woman appointed to the Harvard University faculty in any field. During her years at Harvard (1919-1935), she never received a faculty promotion. She was excluded from social activities, could not enter the Harvard Union, or attend the Faculty Club.
MeQvm TIL that author Douglas Adams once got an offering of £50,000 to write a Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy calendar. A few weeks later, having done no work towards it, another call came saying the deal had fallen through but that he would still be paid half the fee. He celebrated with champagne.
e0VK5 TIL In a 1958 documentary, Disney faked mass suicide of lemmings by throwing some lemmings bought from Inuit children off of a cliff into the ocean
eP7J TIL that up to 90% of the Humpback whale population was eliminated during the whaling era.
ANWBw TIL Grumman, the aerospace and defense corporation, also makes the ubiquitous United States Postal Service Truck