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TIL Abuse of the smoke signal is known to have contributed to the fall of the Western Zhou Dynasty, 8th century BCE. King You of Zhou had a habit of fooling his warlords with false warning beacons in order to amuse his queen. When an actual rebellion occurred, no one came to the aid of the king.

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oBJjK TIL of the "3.5% Rule" - Every civil disobedience campaign, in which 3.5% of the population participated, has succeeded
BrRYe TIL Nanocardboard is made out of an aluminum oxide film with a thickness of tens of nanometers. Its sandwich structure, similar to that of corrugated cardboard, makes it more than 10,000x as stiff as a solid plate of the same mass. Shining a light on a piece of nanocardboard allows it to levitate.
YEgZ TIL More people live in California than Canada.
b9glZ TIL lionfish are an invasive species in the Atlantic and are detrimental to native fish stocks because of how fast they can breed. Scientists have traced their DNA back to a few sources that they think were "set free" by aquarium owners in the 80's
5YgX8 TIL: About the Trojan Room coffee pot at the University of Cambridge which is said to be the inspiration for the first webcam. In 1991 it put a live picture of the office coffee pot on peoples desktops pc’s of the local office LAN so people wouldn’t make a wasted trip.