› added 5 years ago

393

TIL that Benjamin Franklin's many inventions include the flexible urinary catheter, odometer and swimming fins. He never got parents and wrote, “we should be glad of an opportunity to serve others by any invention of ours; and this we should do freely and generously."

Read more benjamin-franklin-history.org

via reddit.com

xJwD TIL police departments in Canada give out “positive tickets” when they see people doing something positive.
x071 TIL that Upton Sinclair, in his book The Brass Check, had proposed a law that any newspaper which prints a false statement shall be required to give equal prominence to a correction, on penalty of a substantial fine, among other remedies
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7r0g7 TIL that although the Great Chicago Fire is arguably the most famous fire in U.S. history, a far deadlier fire occurred on the same day in neighboring Wisconsin and Michigan. The Peshtigo Fire was responsible for the deaths of an estimated 2,500 people, more than any other fire in American history.
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