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TIL Silicon Valley began in Palo Alto because the inventor of the transistor wanted his new company to be closer to his sick mother's house

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ngvb TIL that the deepest London Underground station, 221ft underground, was never completed and was used to store secret archives during WWII
78kQ7 TIL that the word "leopard" originally referred not to the leopard but to the cheetah, which at the time was incorrectly believed to be the hybrid offspring of a lion and a "pard" (i.e. a lion and what we now call a leopard)
mxvJv TIL at $2 million per 30-second slot, the 2004 finale episode of FRIENDS had the most expensive ad slots for a non-sports program
ne1Lb TIL Good King Wenceslas is technically a Boxing Day (26 Dec) carol, not a Christmas carol.
YQ7r TIL in 2010, 7-year-old Charlie Simpson made a cycle ride to raise funds for Haiti earthquake victims. He hoped to raise £500 for the Haiti earthquake relief by cycling 5 miles around a local park, but he eventually raised £145,000 after his efforts touched the hearts of people around the world.