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TIL that an escaped slave, Bass Reeves, was the phenomenal man who inspired The Lone Ranger!

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78k5r TIL a pregnant cat was bought by a lighthouse keeper into a previously isolated island south of New Zealand and it (as well as its feral kittens) went on to cause the extinction of an endemic flightless bird (Stephens Island Wren) shortly after
Zgvo TIL Reddit is number 10 on the most visited sites in the US
mxJBE TIL that the first independent full-length film written and directed by Steven Spielberg was called "Firefight," (inspired Close Encounters) made on a budget of $500, which then 16 year old Spielberg borrowed from his father. It was shown at a local cinema one evening and it earned back its cost.
5V7kn TIL where the word "Gerrymander" comes from. The 1812 Massachusetts Congress redrew the state districts to give their party electoral advantage, which Gov. Elbridge Gerry signed into law. A local paper compared the shape of one district to a salamander, coining the term "Gerry-mander", which stuck.
nWwLW TIL about "Terminal Lucidity." The unexpected return of mental clarity and memory shortly before the death of patients suffering from severe psychiatric and neurologic disorders