› added 3 years ago

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TIL that Mesopotamians figured out that the Earth orbited the sun about 1,700 years before Copernicus and Newton. They also figured out that the moon causes the tides and that the Earth rotates around its axis.

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awGvA TIL the average number of hairs someone has on their head is about 100,000 hairs but it can vary by hair color. Blondes can have an average of 150,000 hairs.
WkPP8 TIL the natural birth rate of boys to girls is 105 to 100, but it evens out by reproductive age because more boys die in childhood.
v7pL TIL The shortest correspondence in history was between Victor Hugo and his publisher in 1862. Inquiring about sales of Les Miserables Hugo telegraphed his publishers the single-character message “?”. Having sold out the first print in 24hrs, the reply was “!“
wLrN6 TIL that during WW2 Japanese people were fully convinced that American soldiers were devils that 'devoured women and babies'; so they jumped off cliffs to kill themselves and avoid being captured.
QJxak TIL that in 1918, a black man named Laurence C. Jones survived a lynching attempt from a White mob by convincing them of his passion to educate Black kids. The mob ended up collecting money for his cause.