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TIL a researcher in the 1970s blindfolded participants and told them they were going to play tug-of-war against another team. When they were told they had 3 others pulling with them, they pulled 18% less strenuously than when they were told they were alone. The effect is now known as social loafing.

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4X6Z5 TIL one of the greatest generals Khalid ibn Al-Walid would fight opposing leaders in a 1v1 death match before battle. He remains undefeated in over a 100 battles.
xVdJ1 TIL Sammy Davis Jr. disliked "The Candy Man" so much, he rushed through recording his vocals in two takes, convinced "the song is going straight to the toilet, pulling his career down with it". It ended up being his only Number One Hit, spending three weeks at the top of the Billboard Top 100.
yQZel TIL that Aeschylus, one of three great Athenian tragedians, was killed by a tortoise dropped by an eagle that mistook his bald head for a rock suitable for shattering a reptile shell. Pliny adds that Aeschylus had been staying outdoors to avert a prophecy that he'd be killed by a falling object.
QARd TIL that our reaction to sneezing when encountering light is called Autosomal-dominant Compulsive Helio Ophthalmic Outbursts, also called ACHOO.
W745o Today I Learned Chiune Sugihara, the famous diplomat who wrote visas to 6,000 jews, was born on January 1, 1900, the first day of the first month of the first year of the 20th century.