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TIL the 20th century saw a dramatic global literacy surge, largely due to a focus on basic education.

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v1Rpr TIL that after Beethoven went deaf, he found he could affix a metal rod to his piano and bite down on it while he played, enabling him to hear perfectly through vibrations in his jawbone. The process is called bone conduction.
RyKl TIL that the traditional way to pronounce Julius Caesar, is (yewl-yoos kay-i-sarr), showing where the imperial titles of Russian ‘Czar/Tsar’ or 'Kaiser’, in German, had their origins in Classical Latin and more than 2000 years as a legacy to Caesar’s family name.
OGx4Y TIL There's a Federal Railroad Administration which allows you to report when and where trains have blocked a crossing for unreasonable amounts of time.
grENA TIL that the oldest surviving creation myth (the Sumerian Eridu Genesis) written in 1600 BCE tells of a massive flood. There is also archaeological evidence that a ‘continuity disrupting’ flood occurred at around 2900 BCE.
JYbEj TIL that a Kentucky man escaped from jail after a friend of his faxed the prison a false demand for his release from a grocery store. It took two weeks for the authorities to realize their mistake and start looking for him. He was found at his mother’s house.