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TIL that New York City offers so-called Friendship Benches, a program first used in Zimbabwe, where peers offer an ear to people who are suffering from depression but are not in a position to seek professional therapy.

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ADDgx TIL Gary Webb, the reporter from the San Jose Mercury News who first broke the story of CIA involvement in the cocaine trade, was found dead with "two gunshot wounds to the head." His death, in 2004, was ruled a suicide.
7oYL TIL that the body of Richard III, infamous king of England, was lost for over 500 years before being found beneath a parking lot in 2012.
R7nb9 TIL that painter Claude Monet had the lens of his eyes removed after developing cataracts. After the surgery, he started painting lilies that he had previously painted white before, as blue, leading to the idea that he could have been perceiving UV light, which most normal humans cannot.
x6PJ0 TIL loons have their feet so far back on their body for swimming efficiency that they can barely walk on land, having to push themselves along on their bellies; they also can only take off from large bodies of water
xVwEo TIL that Steve Jobs had just been pruning apple trees in Oregon which led him to call his company Apple. “It sounded fun, spirited, and not intimidating. Apple took the edge off the word computer, ” Jobs said. “Plus, it would get us ahead of Atari in the phone book.”