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TIL $44B of gift cards have gone unclaimed since 2008

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p8lKp TIL in 1992, on average, a bank in Los Angeles was robbed every 45 minutes. Between 1985 and 1995 the ~3,500 retail bank branches in LA were robbed 17,106 times. In 1992 alone, there were 2,641 heists.
9ElG TIL that during the warring states period, the Han sent a water engineer to Qin to build an excessively expensive and pointless canal in order to drain their rival’s funds. However, the canal was a massive success and even today the area is very fertile.
R5Vb4 TIL the link between the nutcracker and Christmas was due to the popularity of Tchaikovsky's "The Nutcracker." Which, when introduced to the US, "helped make nutcracker dolls a Christmas decoration and a seasonal icon across Western culture"
oBm07 TIL that in WWII, pilots often blacked out in turns as high g forces made blood pool in their legs. British Ace Douglas Bader, however, did not have this problem, since his legs had been amputated after an accident.
b9Vnj TIL that “It’s my Life” from Gwen Stefani was a remake of a song by British New Wave band Talk Talk