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TIL Massachusetts passed laws requiring children to be educated by the 1640s and informally required children to be taught to read and write from its founding. Mississippi, on the other hand, was the last state to create compulsory education laws, and didn’t require school attendance until 1918.

N74Re TIL that when the Malaysian Exploding Ant's head explodes during its suicide attack, it spreads a poisonous, corrosive glue that entangles and immobilizes anything nearby!
LkdpP TIL about Queen Soraya of Afghanistan who fought hard to improve the rights of women in the 1920's. She was also the minister of education for Afghanistan and the first Muslim consort to appear in public with her husband. In 1929 her husband was deposed and all their reforms were undone.
pYxGG TIL the most expensive medieval English coin ever sold at auction is a 'Henry III gold penny' minted around 1257 that fetched £648K ($835K) in 2022. It's only the eighth known example out of the roughly 52,000 coins that were originally minted. It was found by an amateur metal detectorist in Hemyock
l7NQ7 TIL John Galt, the (anti)hero of Atlas Shrugged, shares his name with a British novelist who was first among authors to discuss the effects of the Industrial Revolution. He was also an early leader of the Canada Company meant to represent the Empire's interests, but he fell into disgrace from debt.
wLYxY TIL Jimmy Carter was considered such a long shot candidate that when he told his mother, Lillian, his plans to run for President, she asked him “President of what?”