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TIL Dennis Ritchie, co-creator of UNIX and creator of the C programming language, died a week after Steve Jobs

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yQwaw TIL during the Middle Ages wealthy families sometimes took in men and women who had mental illnesses or physical deformities and kept them as court jesters and pets for their amusement. Known as "innocent fools" they were not paid; just provided with food, clothes, and a place to sleep on the floor.
a8YG9 TIL about the Sparklemuffin Jumping Spider and other peacock jumping spiders from Australia! Peacock spider males dance for their lives, shaking their colorful behinds and arms, when courting a female. They also create vibrations, serenating their lady of choice!
DQJKJ TIL that Dr. Sigmund Rascher, who conducted inhuman experiments on concentration camp inmates, was executed at the end of World War II...not for his war crimes, but on the direct orders of Heinrich Himmler, for "financial irregularities" and other actions which embarrassed Himmler.
lgo5 TIL in 2007 a woman who only occasionally played an old game boy (for which Tetris was the only game she owned) on long car rides and plane flights broke the world record by 500 lines.
vGGx TIL: There is a Harvard/Oxford educated doctor that has been running a free TB/HIV clinic in Port au Prince since the 2010 earthquake and she receives no compensation for her work.