› added 10 years ago

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TIL Beethoven won a sight reading piano competition by turning his sheet music upside down, playing it, then improvising on one of its themes for thirty minutes. His opponent, Daniel Steibelt, never returned to challenge him again.

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rNA1y TIL Caffenism is a state of intoxication from consuming too much caffeine. Extreme symptoms are muscle twitching, cardiac arrhythmia, periods of inexhaustibility, and loss of appetite.
d8GLK TIL that Cosmonauts used to bring a triple barreled pistol on space missions, mainly for the purpose of defending against Siberian wildlife. It fired both Shotgun and AK-74 ammunition.
X66R TIL The Spirit Bear survived, in part, because the Native Americans never spoke of them to fur trappers.
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PYxMg Here comes private space travel — with cocktails, retro-futuristic Philippe Starck designs and Wi-Fi. Just $55 million a trip!