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TIL that Russian poet Alexander Pushkin’s great-grandfather was an African slave who later became a general to emperor Peter the Great

Read more theguardian.com

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6Ed08 TIL that some Native Americans tribes were major slave holders.
xVrV0 TIL there are actually two measurements called the 'foot' in the US - the 'international foot' (.3048 meters) and the 'US survey foot' (1200/3937 meters). One international foot is approximately .999998 US Survey feet.
8eljZ TIL that newborn giant pandas are proportionally the smallest baby of any placental mammal, being about 1/800 the mother's weight
GmD4 TIL there is a battery powered bell at Oxford University that has been continuously ringing for over 175 years. No one knows what the battery is composed of and no one wants to take the device apart in order to figure it out.
kVEW TIL Hindus, Jains, and Sikhs celebrate an ancient festival known as Diwali (or Deepavali) on October 22 and 23. The festival celebrates “the victory of light over darkness, knowledge over ignorance, good over evil, and hope over despair. ”