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TIL Alaska was never meant to be separated from the rest of the United States, but would be linked when British Columbia also joined. Instead, the Alaska Purchase compelled British Columbia to join the Canadian Confederation 3 months later.

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4kDVb TIL about the Ponzo Illusion, which is is a visual phenomenon where two identical lines appear different in length due to converging background lines, creating a sense of perspective and depth distortion
vPBkL TIL that 167 years ago, Senator Brooks beat Senator Sumner nearly to death on the Senate floor.
j6ALQ TIL, of the BP (Before Present) timescale, used by archeologists; 0BP is 1950 in the Gregorian calendar
rRNye TIL Fred Rogers found "Mister Robinson's Neighborhood," the SNL parody of his own show, to be amusing and affectionate.
6En6Y We’ve been conditioned to think of Covid-19 as a respiratory disease—but it’s not just about the lungs. Evidence is emerging that the coronavirus can cause heart damage in people who’ve had mild symptoms or none at all, especially if those people exercise while they’re infected. If you've just had Covid—even if you didn't have symptoms—you need to be aware of myocarditis. That’s cardiologist-speak for what happens when the muscular walls of the heart become inflamed, weakening the organ and making it more difficult for it to pump blood. It’s not a newly discovered condition, and it turns up pretty rarely, but when it does, it’s most often triggered by an infection. Strenuous activity while the heart is weakened can cause swelling in the legs, dizziness, shortness of breath, and—in serious cases—irregular heartbeat, cardiac arrest, and sudden death.