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TIL the present-day Washington State was originally called "Columbia", but Congress forced the name change to "Washington" in honor of George Washington and to avoid confusion with the nation's capital, the District of Columbia

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GVv1 TIL The reason why Mexican Music sounds so much like Polka, is due the direct influence of German and Czechoslovakian immigrants to the United States in the late 1800s.
KO4jJ TIL about the Canadian Rangers, a 5,000 strong wing of the Canadian military reserves made up mostly of First Nation personnel. They provide a military presence in the most remote Canadian regions, act as guides and scouts for the Army, and until 2018 were still issued WWII vintage rifles.
OGQDe TIL United States had $1 coins until 2011
gMepL TIL Hanno the Navigator, an ancient Carthaginian from the 5th century BCE, was one of the first to record the discovery of what he described as "hairy, savage people". The local tribes called them Gorillai and viewed them as a type of human and were described as a type of man.
1aRQ7 TIL researchers discovered bacteria that naturally evolved to eat away at polyethylene terephthalate, the plastic known as PET or polyester. While studying the structure of an enzyme found in that bacteria, they accidentally created a “mutant enzyme” that can break down plastic within a few days