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TIL that an Illinois high school English teacher told two students, "Neither one of you will ever learn to write". Robert St. John, one of the students, became a famous journalist with many news scoops, including the Japanese surrender in WW2. The other student was Ernest Hemingway.

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4knlb TIL that before the invention of erasers, writers and draftsmen used to use bread crumbs to erase mistakes.
KOxZ9 TIL that the Soviet Union built their own Space Shuttle in secret. In November of 1988, they revealed and launched The Buran for it’s one and only flight successfully. Unlike the US Space Shuttles, this space craft was fully autonomous, had ejection seats, and was able to carry 30 tons.
ZN8p TIL an Ohio woman once got out of a parking ticket because of a missing comma in the state’s laws. She successfully argued that her car wasn’t a “motor vehicle camper” and therefore wasn’t included in the list of prohibited vehicles.
WkNJ4 TIL that the Captain of the USS Indianapolis was court-martialed for its' sinking in 1945. In 1996, a history project by a sixth grader cleared his name.
WkpMB TIL of blindsight, where a cortically blind person can't consciously see but still has visual information subconsciously processed. Such a person may avoid an obstacle in their field of view but not know why they did so.