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TiL that the ice cream flavor Butter Pecan gained popularity during the Jim Crow era as an alternative to Vanilla, a flavor that African Americans were often forbidden by white Southerners from eating solely because of its white color.

xVj8b TIL in 1969 Penn State student Betsy Aardsma was doing research in the campus library when she was stabbed in the chest. Because the wound was so small and the fact that she was wearing a red dress, paramedics thought that she had a seizure before she died. The case is still unsolved.
e0kbn TIL these hardcore Javanese bird's nest gatherers have to risk their lives descending a cliff face hanging from ropes, waiting on an overhang 10 m above sea level for a wave sweeping them into a cave where they gather the nests in total darkness. Bad timing can result in loss of their lives.
Xb4j TIL that Felix Batista, an expert on kidnapping, was kidnapped in Mexico. He Had already negotiated nearly 100 kidnapping and ransom deals and after his disappearance nobody took credit and he’s been missing ever since.
DQeXY TIL that the entire population of Toulon, France was temporarily evicted in 1543 so that a fleet of the allied Ottomans could winter in the city. 30,000 soldiers spent 8 months there, the cathedral was converted into a mosque, and the king had to pay them 800,000 gold coins before they would leave.
b9dDa TIL that Cheez-It's are not actually square, measuring 1.0 by 0.94 inches, making them rectangles.