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TIL about Richard Proenneke, who left his career as a heavy equipment operator, flew to a remote Alaskan lake, built a log cabin by hand, and lived alone for 30 years

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1yaO TIL When astronomer Fritz Zwicky, father of dark matter, was banned from using the 200 inch Palomar telescope, he replied by calling them “a load of spherical bastards” because, he explained, they are bastards no matter which direction you look at them from.
KOx8Q TIL that Offensive Lineman, on average, score the highest on the cognitive ability and problem-solving test used by the NFL prior to entering the draft.
wop97 TIL the 1st jet airliner passed extreme tests yet broke up in normal flight b/c the tests actually made it stronger. A 2x overpressure test on the prototype Comet strengthened it through "cold-working," making it last longer. Production Comets, lacking stress testing, wore out much faster.
Me0w8 TIL Van Halen's guitarist, Eddie Van Halen practiced playing drums first, while his brother Alex took up the guitar. However, when Eddie saw Alex mastered the drum solo in the song "Wipe Out", they decided to switch roles. Eddie went on to be one of the greatest rock guitarists in the world.
Z8YDQ TIL in 1958 A chemical operator at Los Alamos was killed after plutonium in a mixing tank went supercritical, exposing him to over 30Gy of hard radiation. After 24 hours his bone marrow contained no red blood cells