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200

TIL Birthday candles can be traced back to the ancient Greeks

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Vb90 TIL that trees actually sleep at night, relaxing their branches after dawn and perking them up before sunrise.
rRk64 TIL the Japanese word "Matchpump" マッチポンプ means "Stirring up trouble to get credit from the solution."
oRVxE TIL that Nobel prize winner James Watson, co-discoverer of the DNA double helix structure, invested in Facebook early and is now a multi-billionaire worth $20,000,000,000 US dollars.
5Y4op TIL there's a species of scorpion that loses its tail when threatened, just like a lizard. Trouble is, its anus is located at the end of its tail, meaning it may survive for up to eight months sans anus, and without ever defecating again
x61Yo TIL of the field recordings of Alan Lomax, a folklorist. He travelled recording a wide spectrum of musical performances, stories, jokes and personal narratives for the US Library of Congress in the 1930s. His life's work is now digitally archived.