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TIL that Habsburg Emperor Joseph II tried to reform Austria into "ideal Enlightened state". He abolished serfdom, removed restrictions against Jews, gave religious freedom to Protestants and Orthodox and tried to weaken power of Catholic church. But as soon he died all his reforms were abolished

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xVloo TIL until 1979, Nicaraguan deaf students were stigmatized and barred from school. With deaf schools opening but no experienced teachers, teens developed a unique language. In 6 years younger students joining were fluent and versed in the new sign language, stunning linguists.
D8Yr TIL that Ray Bradbury’s “Fahrenheit 451” was actually about how television destroys interest in literature, not about censorship and while giving a lecture in UCLA the class told him he was wrong about his own book, and he just walked away.
rN9vx TIL Soccer legend Diego Maradona used a fake penis to pass drug tests at the height of his cocaine use. The phoney phallus was stolen from a Buenos Aires museum in 2003 and has never been recovered.
WkQ5L TIL a man who suffered from severe electrical burns ended up dying during the Blackout of 2003. This was because there was no electricity to power his air conditioning to keep his skin grafts at the right temperature. He was put in this position by electricity and out by lack of it.
Z8yXp TIL about the "Battle of Hayes Pond", where in 1958, fed up with recent cross burnings on their grounds, over 500 armed members of the Lumbee Tribe surrounded a KKK rally and exchanged fire with them, destroying the only light source and forcing the Klan members to flee the area.