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TIL that in the 1790s, France had a network of signalling towers that could send messages by writing symbols using giant mechanical arms on towers. They could send complex messages across the entire country in ~1 hour. These were precursors to electric telegraphs.

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VBV40 TIL Theodore Hook & the Berners Street hoax
wLN41 (TIL) Toyota cheated so brilliantly it was applauded by rule makers (the FIA or International Automobile Federation). If this had not happened, then we wouldn’t have seen the iconic Colin McRae victory in a Subaru that sparked a whole other generation of competition.
GALZQ TIL the founder of Oakley Sunglasses also founded RED Digital Cinema, the makers of high end cinema cameras popular with YouTubers.
eBjD TIL there is a perfectly painless of killing someone through nitrogen asphyxiation by cutting off oxygen while still supplying nitrogen so that the body does not experience a suffocating sensation. However, this method is not used by any government as a method of capital punishment.
D1blY TIL that during the 50s til 70s the UK Foreign Office had a program of destroying or hiding files from its ex-colonies, as they gained independence, if they that could embarrass the UK government. This happened in over 20 countries and included documents pertaining to torture and racial biases.