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TIL in an effort to keep birds of prey away from airports, French scientists discovered that raptors were repelled by an LED screen featuring a "googly eyes" image that appears to enlarge. Screens at an airport with over 8,000 bird sightings successfully reduced raptor visits during a 5 week trial.

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via reddit.com

6E8Vl TIL that in the Antebellum South, slaves dreaded January 1 -- A.K.A. "Heartbreak Day" -- because New Year's Day was traditionally when debts were settled, resulting in black families being torn apart as slave owners sold or rented slaves out long-term to pay back those they owed money to.
V9Ym TIL the first modern attempt at restricting smoking was imposed by the then German government in every university, post office, military hospital, and Nazi Party office, under the auspices of Karl Astel’s Institute for Tobacco Hazards Research, created in 1941 under orders from Adolf Hitler.
69vjX TIL in the U.S., half of the population consumes sugary drinks on a given day; 1 in 4 people get at least 200 calories from such drinks; and 5% get at least 567 calories—equivalent to four cans of soda.
nPkb TIL that during WWII, the British, learned of a German radio navigation system codenamed ‘Wotan’. Wotan, or Odin, was a one-eyed Norse god, whence they deduced that the system used one beam, and were able to develop countermeasures before the system was even deployed.
Adng TIL German Universities have FREE Tuition for International Students As Well