› added 9 years ago

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TIL in 2012 a charity dropped off boxes in a remote African village containing Xoom tablets with no instructions. Within 4 minutes a child turned one on. Within 5 days, kids were using 47 apps per child, per day. Within 2 weeks they were singing ABC songs. Within 5 months they had hacked Android.

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mDGE TIL there is more genetic variety within Africa than the rest of the world combined. In other words, Western Europeans and East Asians are potentially more genetically similar to each other than two Africans are genetically similar to each other
W7QEX TIL that Soviet revolutionary Leon Trotsky was not at the funeral of Vladimir Lenin, despite being among the USSR's top leadership at the time of his death. Trotsky later claimed he had deliberately been told the wrong date for the funeral.
Z8m4Y TIL about the Battle of Saragarhi, in which 21 Sikh soldiers of the 36th Sikh Regiment were stationed at an army post and were attacked by 10,000 to 12,000 Afghans. The Sikhs chose to fight to the death, in what is considered by some military historians as one of history's greatest last stands.
m0wp TIL: Female bats give oral sex to male bats as foreplay to prolong the act of mating
KYJ84 TIL that the eerie "loon bird" call often heard in Hollywood movies is frequently used inaccurately to evoke a sense of wilderness, even in locations where loons don't exist.