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TIL William Horatio Bates developed a (dangerous and ineffective) alternative therapy method of treating nearsightedness that involved using a lens to focus sunlight directly onto a patient's eyes

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Y7mLd TIL in 1938, Chiang Kai-Shek caused the deadliest manmade flood in history when he intentionally broke the Yellow River dam. While he did succeed in his goal of slowing down the Japanese advance, it ended up killing 400,000-893,303 people in the process.
QNPgk TIL the Unabomer, Ted Kaczynski, randomly chose his victims from library research.
b74Q TIL it is polite in Japan to slurp your noodles as you eat them because “how could you possibly get the full flavor if you don’t slurp!?”
ADl87 TIL UPS drivers don't take the shortest routes. UPS has special software which optimises each route by eliminating as many left-hand turns as possible. As result, UPS claims it uses 10m gallons less fuel, emits 20,000 tonnes less carbon dioxide and delivers 350,000 more packages every year.
n90W TIL an ad agency successfully defeated a Tea Party push to defund and close a public library by pretending to be a Tea Party-ish organization called Safeguarding American Families, that was throwing a “Book Burning Party” to celebrate the library’s closing