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Today I learned that York, William Clark's slave, was one of the first Africans that the Native Americans West of the Mississippi River met. They tried to wash the blackness off of him, and when they discovered that he was in fact human they respected his strength.

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W7vN8 TIL that the true color of the sky is violet. Earth's atmosphere scatters shorter wavelengths, like blue and violet. However, our eyes are more sensitive to blue and less to violet, so we see the sky as blue.
wLBOJ TIL that the animal that causes the most human deaths annually in the US is deer. Deer sometimes leap blindly into roadways causing tens of thousands of traffic accidents annually. These accidents cause an estimated 200 deaths every year. Runner-up: Bees, wasps and hornets with 58 deaths.
yVVgM TIL that TIME Magazine's Person of the Century online poll resulted in the top spots going to Jesus Christ and Ric Flair, neither of which were considered eligible.
oRZ6o TIL the brain of a five-year-old child uses 50% of their body’s energy expenditure, rising to 2/3 while resting, which leads to a decline in rate of weight gain. The rate of energy needed for brain development then declines with age and the rate of weight gain resumes in parallel with the brain
mx5kO TIL: During WWII about 250,000 Filipinos were promised US Citizenship & Veteran Benefits for aiding the US in fighting Japan, then the US reneged its offer and only about 4000 got any benefits at all.