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TIL That President Ulysses S. Grant gave a homeless loiterer a free ride to the US Naval Academy. This man was Albert Michelson, who then went on to discover the speed of light and win a Nobel Peace Prize.

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LQX5v TIL most plants grow faster in the evening and at night than they do during the day.
QN7lM Today I learned that in Germany, escaping from prison isn't considered a crime. The law recognizes the human instinct to seek freedom, so successfully breaking out doesn’t result in extra punishment.
16xEr TIL One of Emperor Hirohito's most treasured possessions was a Mickey Mouse watch, which was presented to him on a trip to the US when he visited Disneyland in 1975. When he died in 1989 he was buried with the watch.
J1ybQ TIL that Meyer Goldstein, one of two Socialists to serve in the U.S. Congress, lost his seat to Samuel Dickstein, who was later discovered to be spying for the Soviet Union
KOK9J TIL about The tragedy of the commons- an economic problem in which every individual has an incentive to consume a resource at the expense of every other individual with no way to exclude anyone from consuming resulting in overconsumption and ultimately depletion of the resource.