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TIL the United States almost adopted the Metric System in 1794. Frenchman Joseph Dombey was en route to America to present the prototypes of a Meter and a Kilogram to the US Congress but his ship got hit by a storm and he got stranded in the Carribean where he died in a British prison.

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kJJam TIL that the first computer was a loom
vP5Zr TIL Emperor Genghis Khan's conquests caused such devastation that vegetation regrowth in his enemies' former lands led to a notable decrease in atmospheric carbon dioxide levels.
wyP1 TIL 40% to 50% of the genetic information found in your GI tract does not match anything that’s ever been classified before–not plant, animal, fungus, virus, or bacteria. We have no clue what it is. Biologists call it “biological dark matter.”
xVopb TIL Germany only paid off the last chunk of reparations imposed on it by the Allies after the First World War on 3rd October 2010.
BrMjb TIL that cast iron pans are a good source of dietary iron