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TIL: According to scholars, the earliest writing was probably not a direct rendering of speech, but more likely began as a separate and distinct symbolic system of communication, and only later merged with spoken language.

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5YgE9 TIL that the US Navy has been training dolphins to carry out military tasks such as locating underwater mines and flagging enemy swimmers since the 1960's
X9pE TIL in the twilight of the Cold War, the United States spent millions of dollars to supply Afghan schoolchildren with textbooks filled with violent images and militant Islamic teachings, part of covert attempts to spur resistance to the Soviet occupation.
47A6 TIL while working as maids Léa Papin and her sister Christine were found guilty of murdering their employer’s wife and daughter. Léa was given a reduced sentence of eight years due to good behaviour, and upon release moved to Nantes where she continued her livelihood as a hotel maid.
aw1j9 TIL that the last confirmed use of armored trains in combat was during the Yugoslav conflicts in the period between 1991-1995 in the areas of Croatia and Bosnia & Hercegovina. Many of these trains were made using on-site materials and were equip with various ordinances of many types and calibers.
9YxMX TIL Clancy Brown who plays the sadistic corrections officer Byron Hadley in The Shawshank Redemption also voices Mr. Krabs in Spongebob Squarepants.