› added 5 years ago

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TIL that the early versions of the Easy-Bake Oven, a child's toy that allows children to bake small treats, used incandescent lightbulbs as their heat source. That's because these bulbs were so inefficient that only 5% of the electricity they used produced light. The rest produced heat.

neLKo TIL of a town in the state of Arizona named "Nothing", which, fittingly, has a population of zero, although it once had a gas station, a small convenience store and at its height, 4 people living there
6DoJ TIL One of the test pilots for the interceptor version of the SR-71 was chosen for Apollo 15 mission to the Moon. He had a heart attack after his moon walk and the only reason anybody knew was because NASA noticed it on his heart monitor. It was left out of the mission debriefing records.
Zp7AY TIL that 25% of American cowboys were Black. I also learned that (its rumored) the term "Cowboy" originated from calling Black cow-hands, cow-boys as a derogatory term.
QNxbp TIL Batman's creator, Bob Kane, initially envisioned Batman with a red suit and a domino mask. His friend Bill Finger contributed the iconic black suit, the name Bruce Wayne, Gotham, The Joker, etc. In 1965 Kane denied Finger's claims that he created Batman, stating that it's fraudulent and untrue.
rRKxw TIL celery was a very popular food in the 1800s through early 1900s. It was the third most popular menu ingredient in New York City restaurants, behind coffee and tea. Celery cost more than caviar because it was so hard to cultivate in those days.