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TIL that braille was originally invented by the French Army out of necessity after soldiers were being killed because they used lamps after dark to read combat messages. Soon after, Louis Braille, an eleven year old blind boy simplified it into what we use today.

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P1Qgg TIL snapping your fingers creates a mini shock wave.
8LVb TIL Nancy Green, born into slavery in 1834, was hired in 1890 to represent “Aunt Jemima”, an advertising character named after a song from a minstrel show. In 1893 Green was introduced as Aunt Jemima at the World’s Columbian Exposition, where it was her job to operate a pancake-cooking display.
9YlNr TIL Hermit crabs need to find new shells to move into as they grow. If one finds a shell that is too big it'll wait for a larger crab to come along so it can take their old shell. Other crabs congregate waiting for available shells and form a line from largest to smallest so they can all swap shells
pYBmp TIL that the homeownership rate is the proportion of households occupied by the owner divided by the total number of occupied households, so it does not actually reflect the % of human beings that rent - say you have 5 room mates. You only count as 1 "renter", the way the data usually presented
GNoN TIL: In an act of pure humanitarianism more than 200 elderly Japanese volunteered to help clean up after the Fukushima nuclear disaster reducing the exposure of radiation to the younger generation.