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TIL about the "Flynn Effect" which shows the average IQ is rising steadily each generation. IQ tests are continually made harder to keep the average at 100. Today's children that take tests from past decades are averaging significantly higher than 100.

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mxyxR TIL that one of the attempts to find El Dorado, the mythical city of gold, involved draining a lake using a bucket chain of laborers. Over three months, the lake level fell 3 meters and only recovered about $100K worth of gold.
JYLn4 TIL the town of Scotia in California remained a company town entirely owned by the Pacific Lumber Company until the company's 2008 bankruptcy.
XEO0k TIL A medical research team in the United States attempted to set up extensive research into the effects of steroids on weightlifters and throwers, only to discover that there were so few who weren't taking them that they couldn't establish any worthwhile comparisons.
K4N4 TIL popcorn was banned from movie theaters in the 1920’s because of the noise it made while eating it
geQA TIL that Wilhelm Furtwängler, a leading German conductor, called Hitler a “hissing street pedlar” and an “enemy of the human race”. He also refused to give the Nazi salute, wrote public letters denouncing antisemitism, and once got into a shouting match with Hitler over Nazi cultural policy.