› added 3 months ago

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TIL the first person known to have been killed by an automobile was a naturalist, astronomer, microscopist, author, and artist. She was killed when she fell under the wheels of an experimental steam car built by her cousins.

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OGoY7 TIL The person who voiced the iconic whispered line of, "If you Build It, He Will Come", in the 1989 film, "Field of Dreams", has never been confirmed.
P110V TIL Top Gear featured how NASA can make its own weather.
5YXjp TIL that in 1736 the mathematician Leonhard Euler was trying to find a way to cross every single one of the seven bridges of Königsberg exactly once. He realized that this was, in fact, impossible and based on that created a new area of mathematics called Graph Theory.
jDrM TIL that Merck gifted a drug to the WHO that would cure River Blindess in third world countries with no expectation of being paid for it. They said they would “distribute as much as needed for as long as needed” and continue that promise today.
a8keM TIL of Bamboo torture, where a victim would be tied above young bamboo shoots, Over several days, the sharp, fast-growing shoot would first puncture, then completely penetrate the victim's body, eventually emerging through the other side.