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Today I learned that Ed Kemper spent 5,000+ hours over the course of a decade narrating several hundred books on tape for the blind, producing over 4 million feet of tape, as part of a program run in the California Medical Facility State Prison.

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jNBWa TIL The Ancient Romans held mock sea battles known as naumachia for entertainment. In some cases, whole amphitheaters like the coloseum would be flooded and the ship battles would take place within them while spectators would watch from their seats.
woXbM TIL that Belgium is the world's market leader in producing and exporting snooker and billiard balls.
vP8ZD TIL Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II once mandated that all burials be performed with "economy coffins". These contained trapdoors that would drop the body into the grave, after which they would be reused. The unpopular mandate was reversed after six months.
neXZr TIL the 1993 film Philadelphia, the story of a man who was discriminated against due to having AIDS, was itself subject of a lawsuit. The family of the late Geoffrey Bowers sued, claiming that the film heavily borrowed from the story of his own lawsuit without giving him compensation or credit.
wo5g1 TIL 66% of Cleveland residents are functionally illiterate