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TIL that Tenzing Norgay, one of the first two men who reached Mount Everest, didn't know when his exact birthday was. After his ascent of Everest on 29 May 1953, he decided to celebrate his birthday on that day thereafter.

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rZaW TIL that a daycare in Israel had an issue of parents picking kids up late and decided to start punishing the parents by making them pay a fine. Surprisingly, the opposite effect occured and more parents started leaving there kids at the daycare and picking them up late.
loY85 TIL of quipos - the Andean writing system which didn't use ink and paper/tablets/skins. Information was encoded in an intricate system of strings of colored yarn tied in a variety of knots. This system survived until just after the Conquistadors.
r5Lw TIL A supermarket chain in the Netherlands has a policy that if all queues have 4 people in them and not all checkout lanes are open yet, then you get your groceries for free.
Z8RD4 TIL about the Aleutian Islands campaign, or the "Forgotten Battle". Between disease, booby traps, a massive Banzai charge that ended in brutal hand to hand combat and a friendly fire incident instigated by a Canadian soldier, more than 5,800 died in the campaign.
MZEb TIL the Elephant Man was unable to sleep lying down for his whole life and finally experimented, leading to his death. It was claimed that his death was due to the desire that had dominated his life—the pathetic but hopeless desire to be ‘like other people’