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TIL the hypnic jerk, or the twitching of the limbs that accompanies a falling sensation while sleeping, is caused by the brain’s misinterpretation of relaxed muscles as falling. The brain then sends signals to arm and leg muscles in an attempt to regain balance.

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BrP8y TIL about Ziph’s Law which says that frequency of any word is inversely proportional to its rank in the frequency table. The word “the” is the most used word in English, the second most used word is used 1/2 that amount, the third 1/3, and so on. This is true not just for English but all languages.
JYmQ TIL that MIT students have a history of some of the most awesome pranks that have ever been pulled, including hacking the lighting system of one building on campus and rigging it so that they could play Tetris using the windows as tiles.
Z8ZQR TIL that Peter Cullen — voice actor for Optimus Prime, the Predator, and many other voices in film — came up with the Predator's clicking sound because he was coughing blood after voicing King Kong's roars and couldn't do a traditional monster sound.
ZpXQY TIL: People paid to have their mail delivered to them until March 3rd, 1863 when the US Congress established free mail delivery to cities. New York City delivered residential mail 4 times daily until 1940. NYC reduced residential mail delivery to once daily (due to high costs) in 1950.
p8Abb TIL the Chinese besieged Alexandria Eschate, on of the cities that Alexander the Great had founded during his campaign. The city was attacked by the order of the emperor Wu Han in 102 B.C. and its capture stabilized Chinese expansion in the West contributing to opening up the Silk Road later on.