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TIL that the word quarantine comes from an Italian variant of ‘quaranta giorni’, meaning forty days, which was the period that all ships were required to be isolated before passengers and crew could go ashore during the Black Death plague epidemic. They would fly this flag known as “Yellow Jack”.

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4QG6 TIL After a hospital error, two pairs of identical twins were raised in separate families as two pairs of fraternal twins. They found each other 25 years later.
jNyGa TIL One cup measure for baking/cooking can vary by country making a big difference in the outcome of recipes.
pLRb TIL If the largest star in the Galaxy was placed at the center of our Solar System, its surface would extend beyond the orbit of Jupiter.
wLjN1 TIL a rodent that was said to have been extinct for 114 years showed up on the handrail at the front porch of a lodge in Columbia. It let researchers photograph it for two hours and then disappeared into the night and was never seen again.
9YdwM TIL The Harlem Globetrotters played the Minneapolis Lakers (now the L.A. Lakers) in a real basketball game in 1948, and won 61-59. The match helped prove that the NBA should be open to black athletes.