› added 5 years ago

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TIL Human Alarm Clocks: Before the advent of reliable and affordable alarm clocks, British and Irish workers were woken up by a person who made sure they could get to work on time. The knocker-up used a baton to knock on clients’ doors or a long and light stick to reach windows on higher floors.

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JGV1 Til that the east and west US use different sized sticks of butter
loygG TIL in 1878, with $11 of savings, Alonzo Herndon walked out of the town he grew up sharecropping in and developed an empire of barber shops, real estate, and the Atlanta Life Insurance Company. He became a millionaire and a charter member of the Niagara Movement and National Negro Business League.
l7xWr TIL two aviation incidents happened where superstitious, inexperienced passengers tried to throw coins into the plane's engines for good luck before the flight.
J8Ll TIL the shortest correspondence in history was between novelist Victor Hugo and his publisher, after the publication of Les Miserables. Wishing to learn how sales were going, Hugo sent a telegram with only one character. “?”. As the book had already sold out, the publisher responded: “!”
negb7 TIL that the first self help book was called Self-Help and was written by Dr. Samuel Smiles who coined the phrase "God helps those who help themselves."