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TIL James Earl Jones was a functional mute for 8 years due to a stutter he had developed as a child. He credits his English teacher, Donald Crouch, with helping him end his silence. Crouch believed forced public speaking would help Jones gain confidence and insisted he recite a poem every day.

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b9GKZ TIL the San Francisco font was created by Susan Kare for Apple Macintosh computers in 1984 and originally mimicked the "ransom-note effect" (juxtaposed typefaces that appear as if words or letters were cut randomly from magazines). It was used in early Mac software demos and Apple company fliers.
VAOm TIL Hippopotamuses sweat red. Known as “Blood sweat”, it has antibacterial & water-resistant sunscreen properties. Adult Hippos can run faster than humans. They can’t swim or float. They spin their tails while defecating to distribute their excrement over the greatest possible area to mark territory
m0po TIL that 2 Japanese Go masters played a match for 4 days straight. At the end the loser vomited blood on the board and died the next day.
0w8pR TIL after the Pope banned joining the Freemasons in 1738, a group of Catholics started their own secret society named 'The Order of the Pug' in which initiation involved wearing a collar, walking on all fours, pawing at the door to be let in, getting barked at and kissing a pug statue's butt.
neyNr TIL that the Kremlin has a division of trained hawks that defend the building from crows. At first, keepers tried to use pre-recorded shrieks, but crows got used to them, so falcons-later hawks, were used. They are easier and cheaper to train. There’s also an eagle-owl that hunts at night.