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TIL In 1834, Francois and Joseph Blanc bribed an optical semaphore operator to transmit stock market updates to them in advance of regular news. The scheme went on for two years before being discovered.

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9wrEB TIL Hey Arnold is set in the state of Washington.
9wNGG TIL there's a protein in our cells called PARP-1 that is constantly repairing damaged DNA our cells. But it can't repair the DNA in neurons (including brains) while we're awake. So it accumulates there until we fall asleep. Research now shows this accumulation of PARP-1 is what makes us sleepy.
RwEw TIL in Japan people eat deep fried Maple leaves. As a Canadian I say wow.
jNl0v TIL that Europe and Asia aren't actually continents, but are two parts of one large continent called Eurasia. The division between Europe and Asia is an historical social construct that originated from the Ancient Greeks.
LwaZ TIL that authors J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis made a pact to write books on two topics. Lewis would take “space travel,” Tolkien “time travel”. Lewis completed his “space travel” trilogy, but Tolkien never finished his “time travel” books. Instead, Tolkien wrote “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy.