› added 13 years ago

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TIL that Harvard’s health care plan covers transgender surgeries.

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via reddit.com

e4m6 TIL John Swartzwelder, a writer for the Simpsons used to write episodes while sitting in a booth at a coffee shop “drinking copious amounts of coffee and smoking endless cigarettes”. When California passed an anti-smoking law, he bought the diner booth and installed it in his house.
LkaR9 TIL that two-star orbiting planets like Star Wars' Tatooine were by wide consensus considered impossible, and the first such planet was only confirmed as recently as 2011
d8V9j TIL aircraft compasses are not always accurate. While flying, compasses will point towards the north when accelerating, and towards the south when decelerating, known as magnetic dip. The effect is reversed in the southern hemisphere.
QNome TIL that Pete Best was in the Beatles for exactly two years (8-15-60 to 8-15-62)
mxGbE TIL In 1831, a train suffered a boiler explosion when a fireman grew tired of listening to it whistle, and tried to stop the noise by placing a piece of lumber on the safety valve and sitting on it. The blocked valve caused the pressure within the boiler to exceed its capacity, and it exploded.