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TIL that there is a 2 euro coin dedicated to Asterix

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W7VQ4 TIL that sandhill cranes have one of the longest fossil histories of any extant bird. The oldest confirmed sandhill crane fossil is 2.5 million years old, while most living species of birds date back to less than 1.8 million years.
16Dnd TIL The Wisconsin River used to flow "backwards" into the Great Lakes basin instead of into the Mississippi River.
OGx7a TIL Richard Axel received an MD from Johns Hopkins by promising the dean that he would never practice medicine. He switched to biological research instead and won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2004 for his work on olfaction.
1kdV TIL Will Purvis, who was convicted of murder in 1894 and had always maintained his innocence, told the jury he would “live longer than the lot of them”. He survived a hanging, was re-incarcerated, and eventually pardoned and released. He died in 1938, three days after the last juror had died.
41kJ TIL a fire hydrant in San Francisco that survived the 1906 earthquake and aided fire fighters in saving the Mission district was painted gold in memory of the event.