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TIL of Commander James H. Ward, the first US Naval officer to be killed in the American Civil War. A destroyer named after him fired the first American shots of the Pacific Theater in WW2, sinking a Japanese submarine. Actor Andy Devine is his great-grandson.

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e0X04 TIL that in 2014, a Nigerian motorcyclist discovered what is now known as the Ibadan Forest of Horror - a site where 20 decomposing human remains and hundreds of human skulls were uncovered, in what is believed to have been ritualistic killings. 20 people were found alive.
Y767d TIL that, when writing Dracula, Bram Stoker was greatly influenced by his father’s interest in theatre and his mother’s gruesome stories about her childhood during the cholera epidemic in 1832.
GAGk4 TIL in 2007 only 700 Florida snail kite birds remained because newly introduced invasive snails were too big to eat. From 2007 to 2017, these birds rapidly evolved 8-12% larger beaks because the smallest birds all starved to death. As of 2022 they have recovered to 3,000 individuals.
0wpYv Today i learned that if we could power a smartphone with gasoline, one drop of it has enough energy to run the phone for an entire day. A gallon of gasoline would last for 20 years.
Yp9aB TIL the exact origins of surfing are not certain, but it was first observed by Europeans on a ship in Tahiti back in 1767. Research suggests that surfing dates back to the ancient Polynesian cultures. According to data collected and myths, the chief of a tribe was the man who could surf the best.