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TIL the term ‘riding shotgun’ comes from the Old West. Shotgun messengers were hired to protect valuables and trains and stagecoaches and would sit next to the driver on trips

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NXeM6 TIL that nearly 25% of the world's population is Muslim
Vmep TIL Crows are monogamous and raise families together. Offspring from previous seasons even remain with the family to help rear new nestlings.
6E8Gm TIL The reason Christmas is sometimes abbreviated to "X-mas" is because the "X" comes from the Greek letter Chi, which is the first letter of the Greek word Christós (Χριστός), which became Christ in English. The suffix -mas is from the Latin-derived Old English word for Mass.
wLmL6 TIL that in 1983, a mexican electrician inadvertently spilled thousands of cobalt 60 pellets in Ciudad Juarez, which eventually made their way into two foundries and contaminated 3,000 tons of steel, causing one of the worst nuclear accidents in north american history.
Wk8d9 TIL that the oldest animal (at least, the oldest whose age has been identified) was a 507 year-old clam that washed up on the beach in Iceland. Researchers, not realizing how old the clam was, killed it while they were examining it.