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TIL that a teacher called Angela Ruiz-Robles invented the mechanical precursor to the e-book in 1949

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kOVZ4 TIL The dictator of Burma (Myanmar) was obsessed with numerology. He removed 50 Kyat and 100 Kyat banknotes from circulation. Replaced them with 45 Kyat and 90 Kyat banknotes. The economic instability which followed led to a coup d'êtát in 1988.
9Yvo6 TIL Goldfinger was banned in Israel after it was reported that the actor playing Goldfinger, Gert Fröbe, was a former member of the Nazi party. The ban was lifted when it was discovered he helped to hide two Jews in his basement during the war.
mOPy TIL that in 1669, Hennig Brand discovered phosphorus by boiling down urine and heating the residue to very high temperatures. He was trying to make gold though, and he hoped that the yellow color of urine meant there was gold in it.
OGoJg TIL that from the 12th century, Europeans were eating Egyptian mummies as medicine
R7Mw9 TIL The first sitting member of Congress to be assassinated was an Arkansas Congressman murdered by the K.K.K in 1868. Despite identifying his killer by name before his death the assassin was never arrested or charged with a crime.