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TIL that in 1859 a 2 hour telegraph conversation between Portland and Boston was able to be had without the use of any battery power. This was due to an aurora borealis generating enough electric current in the telegraph wires.

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mxrPM TIL a bumblebee will stick up a middle leg if it’s annoyed by your presence, which means “back off!”. Otherwise they are docile to the point that you could usually handle one without negative consequence.
E1VQd TIL Stella Rimington was the first female Director General of MI5 and the first to pose for photos in that role.
N76aM TIL that on the set of The Princess Bride, Billy Crystal's improvisational lines were so funny that Mandy Patinkin bruised a rib trying to hold in laughter and Rob Reiner had to direct his scenes from a video monitor because his laughter was ruining takes.
awRjy TIL in June 2020, 20-year-old student Alexander Kearns committed suicide after the interface of the trading app Robinhood lead him to believe he owed $730,000, that he didn't, with the note, "How was a 20-year-old with no income able to get assigned almost a million dollars' worth of leverage?"
rRwYw TIL that gorillas share 98.3% of their genetic code with humans, making them our closest cousins after chimpanzees and bonobos.