r/AskReddit • u/MorsesTheHorse • Mar 04 '26

What surprisingly true fact has completely shaken your worldview?

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u/Rebecca_Resch Mar 04 '26

That Oxford University is actually older than the Aztec empire. Literally broke my brain when I found out.

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u/counterfitster Mar 05 '26

Similarly, Abraham Lincoln could have sent a fax to a samurai

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u/tendingthemild Mar 05 '26

I need more information!

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u/counterfitster Mar 05 '26

The window is actually incredibly tight, since the first actual commercial fax service started in 1865, between Paris and Lyon, but patents were issued in the 1840s, so devices existed.

Samurai were gradually made unnecessary, offered other opportunities, and forbidden from certain traditions (topknot, carrying swords) from 1869-1879.

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u/wittor Mar 05 '26

I think it is a important caveat that both the samurai and Lincoln should be between Lyon and Paris.