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TIL that the instrument in Samba music that makes a sound like rubbing a balloon or a McDonalds straw in a cup is a percussion instrument called a cuica.

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v1NpL TIL that more than 40% of Americans have less than $400 in their bank for emergency expenses.
9wKnM TIL Mincemeat pie was once preferred over Apple pie as the iconic symbol of American cuisine. This popularity was partly due to the 19th and early 20th century recipe's including actual meat and substantial quantities of booze (usually brandy but sometimes rum and/or Madeira).
QJbGd TIL about the final speech of Romanian dictator Nicolas Ceaușescu: Having forcefully assembled 100.000 workers under threat of being fired on one of Bucharests main squares in order to stage a supportive rally, the crowd soon turned against him, marking the beginning of the end of his dictatorship.
WkQY9 TIL that, like champagne, tequila is a designation of origin product and must be grown in the Tequila Valley to be called tequila.
WkANo TIL a single little brown bat can eat up to 1,200 mosquitoes an hour.