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TIL of the ‘Mass-Observation Diarists’ who were hundreds of volunteers in the U.K. during WWII who made regular diary entries. They wrote about the intimate details of their lives as well as their thoughts and feelings about the world around them. The result was an intimate portrait of British life.

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QJXma TIL the heir to the Habsburg dynasty, which dominated much of Europe for centuries, is a 22-year-old race car driver
e0LZ6 TIL camel and goat eyes are ovals to better control light input and are horizontal for a 'panoramic view' that blocks light from above and below. Cats and predators are vertical slits for judging distance without moving the head. Cats eyes alone have ~9x more control over light than humans.
nW9pd TIL Water has a density anomaly: Up to 4°C, its density actually increases. Warmer water is denser which makes it go down. That's why ice forms at the top of lakes, which insulates the rest of the water body, thereby protecting the aquatic life during harsh winters.
M7Z7W TIL in 1994 Madonna appeared on David Letterman’s talk show swearing, making sexual innuendos and even trying to get Letterman to sniff her underwear. She later claimed her behaviour was influenced by her dating Tupac Shakur at the time who riled her up before the interview.
m6Bx TIL of Kalief Browder, arrested in the spring of 2010, at age sixteen, for a robbery he insisted he had not committed, who spent 3 years at the Rikers Island prison without being convicted of a crime (2 of which was in solitary) and without seeing a trial. He committed suicide after his release.