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TIL that children from some ethnic groups of southeast Asia (called Sea Gypsies) are capable of seeing clearly underwater and this skill wears off as they grow up. Some suggest that with practice any young person could achieve underwater vision.

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YpVPA TIL Masturbation was frequently reported as Cause of Death for soldiers during the (American) Civil War. At the time, “the solitary vice” was thought to cause physical decay, insanity, and death.
ANAnB TIL that Father and Son (1970) by Cat Stevens was originally written as part of a musical about the Russian Revolution which got scrapped when Stevens contracted tuberculosis. It's a dialogue between a conservative farmer and his revolutionary son.
JYwml TIL the first man to go over the Niagara Falls in a barrel died after slipping on an orange peel.
0w1K1 TIL: That an estimated 17% of all 7ft tall people in the U.S. are in the NBA as compared to 0.07% of people between 6’6” and 6’8”. Meaning that if you see a 7ft tall person there is about a 1 in 6 chance they are in the NBA.
oBlor TIL of Naked Came the Stranger, a erotic romance novel written as a literary hoax by 24 different authors, each one taking a chapter. Some chapters had to be heavily edited because they were too well-written. Even after it was revealed to be a joke, it reached the NYTimes best-seller list.