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TIL that Benkos Bioho, an African king that was captured and taken to South America, helped create a way to use braids to convey maps and messages. This stopped his captors from finding out his and his peers' plans. Some braids represented escape and certain roads while others held gold and seeds.

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5Y9dR TIL: The wings of dragonflies prevent bacterial growth due to their natural structure. The surfaces of their wings are covered in nanopillars making them look like a bed of nails. When bacteria come into contact with these surfaces, their cell membranes get ripped apart immediately.
vD9j TIL that Silbury Hill, a man-made structure almost as old as the Great Pyramid, but built in Britain, covers an enormous area equal to more than four football fields. But historians are still not sure about its purpose.
RPJl TIL that Martha Stewart once dated Anthony Hopkins, but broke up with him after she saw Silence of the Lambs. She stated she was unable to avoid associating Hopkins with the character of Hannibal Lecter.
LE1m TIL that the “Man in the Iron Mask” was based on an actual prisoner in France who was held there for 34 years. He was never seen without a black velvet mask, and no one knows who he really was or why he always wore the mask.
LQoEQ TIL that in the year 2000, Norm MacDonald nearly won a million dollars for Paul Newman’s charity for children, but host Regis Philbin talked him out of answering the question so he only won $500,000