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TIL spiral staircases in medieval castles were deliberately made clockwise because it diminished the ability of attackers to properly swing their swords, since right-handed fighters would have had to to contend with the walls while making their striking motions.

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BrlLk TIL leaving cookies and milk for Santa started to become popular in the U.S during the Great Depression. Parents wanted to teach their kids it was better to give and to be grateful for presents they received during times of economic hardship.
ne1MP TIL George Lucas didn’t want Harrison Ford to play Indiana Jones because he didn’t want them to become known as a pair like DeNiro and Scorsese. Lucas and Spielberg thought Tom Selleck was perfect for the part but he had already filmed the pilot “Magnum P.I.” and couldn’t get out of the contract
grEBL TIL that Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman to travel to space on June 16, 1963, when she orbited Earth as part of the Vostok 6 mission. She remains the youngest woman to fly to space, the only female astronaut/ cosmonaut to make a solo space journey.
xVL5k TIL Project RENEW, co-founded in 2001 by a US Army vet in an effort to help clear unexploded bombs in Vietnam, now spends about $24 million a year clearing unexploded ordnance, teaching children about the risks, and assisting victims. The project cleared 17,000 bombs in 2017.
VVZB TIL sea shells sound ‘like the ocean’ because they act as resonators - you are actually hearing “the ambient noise that’s being produced all around and inside you, which you normally don’t hear or pay attention to because it’s too quiet.”