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TIL in the 50s a white man disguised himself as a black man and travelled to some of the most racially segregated parts of America. He found blatant acts of racism almost everywhere he went, and published a book about his experiences called Black Like Me.

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mxB7y TIL in 1865, Charles Dickens was traveling home from France when his train derailed while crossing a bridge, and his car was left dangling from the tracks. He helped save stranded passengers and then climbed back into the dangling car to find a manuscript he was supposed to send to his publishers.
9wMQB TIL on a good note: Guitars per capita rising 55x, we have more leisure
7rMbp TIL when Joseph Stalin's first wife died, he was so overcome with grief he threw himself into her grave during the funeral. Later, secret policemen arrived at the funeral, looking for Stalin (at the time a wanted fugitive); he was forced to flee the service early by jumping the graveyard's fence.
9wbmr TIL that Benjamin Franklin never patented any of his many inventions, writing that “as we enjoy great advantages from the inventions of others, we should be glad of an opportunity to serve others by any invention of ours; and this we should do freely and generously.”
REr4 TIL: The Bali public holiday “Day of Silence” (Nyepi) requires all tourists to be imprisoned in their hotels for 24 hours. No one is allowed on the streets, and could be arrested by Traditional Police. All businesses including the airport, ATMs, and TV broadcasts are shut down.