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TIL Johnny Otis, a seminal influence on American R&B and rock and roll, lived his professional and personal life as a Black man despite the fact he was ethnically Greek. He wrote, "As a kid I decided that if our society dictated that one had to be black or white, I would be black."

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e0bd6 TIL: Nuclear bombers sometimes were painted with "ANTI-FLASH WHITE" (also called blast white or atomic white) to deflect some thermal radiation from their bombs' nuclear explosions. (Shiny silvery surfaces can have similar effect.)
9Yr6m TIL John Quincy Adams (6th US President) was a 'hollow earther' and wanted to meet 'the mole people'. He authorized an expedition to find them.
OooL4 TIL in 859 a man named Basil arrived in Constantinople penniless. Within 8 years, he had begun an affair with the Byzantine Emperor Michael III, had married the emperor's mistress, and had been crowned co-emperor. In 867 Basil murdered Michael in his bedchambers after first cutting off his hands.
D1gED TIL: About “Garden Path Sentences”, a grammatically correct sentence that starts in such a way that a reader’s most likely interpretation will be incorrect; the reader is lured into a parse that turns out to be a dead end or yields a clearly unintended meaning. Like “The old man the boat”
rR9rw TIL that in 2007 a gorilla escaped from his exhibit, grabbed and mauled a nearby woman, and then attacked a restaurant. It was later revealed it was caused by the woman making eye contact and smiling at him several times a week, which zookeepers told her not to do.