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TIL: In the 1800s, Mrs Favell Lee Mortimer set out to write an ambitious guide to all the nations on Earth. She had never set foot outside Shropshire. She was horribly misinformed about virtually every topic she turned her attention to. And she was prejudiced against foreigners.

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9YPEB TIL Picasso once famously said: "It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child." Researchers hypothesized that this is because early childhood is a period characterized by "exuberant neural connectivity" that facilitates "arbitrary sensory experiences in infants."
KOxYG TIL in 1965, Arnold Schwarzenegger went AWOL in the Austrian Army (during the 1 year service required by the government) to attend a bodybuilding contest. He spent a week in military prison, but won the contest, propelling the opportunity for larger contests and, ultimately, his ticket to to America
p7w8 TIL that Jack Johnson (the first ever African American heavyweight boxing champion) was pulled over for a $50 speeding ticket, but he gave the officer $100 telling him to keep the change as he was going to make the return trip at the same speed.
KYZwR TIL that Gordon Ramsey never went to culinary school. He received his diploma in hotel management. He gained his experience from working in his family restaurants and the mentorship of renowned chefs in France.
NXGe8 TIL about Don Ritchie, an Australian who intervened and prevented at least 180 suicide attempts at a notable suicide destination called The Gap. He lived nearby and would approach and ask “Can I help you in some way?”