› added 1 year ago

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TIL the Tulip Mania led to the laws that enabled futures contracts to be convertible into option contracts, a common investment vehicle today

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LQ5j9 TIL about LtCol Rankin, who parachuted through a thunderstorm in 1959 when his plane engine died at 47k feet. Due to repeatedly being sucked back into and ejected from the top of the thunderstorm, it took him 40 minutes to reach the ground.
raNM TIL that the shabby coat worn by The Great and Powerful Oz in The Wizard of Oz was found in a thrift store and later discovered to have belonged to L Frank Baum, author of the original Oz book.
J184 TIL that a man who witnessed Lincoln’s assassination as a young boy lived long enough to be on a game show in 1956
oryo TIL when Charles Darwin first discovered the Galapagos Tortoises he tried to ride them
nW4Ad TIL that the Norovirus, a common cause of the “stomach flu”, is resistant to alcohol based hand sanitizer and affected by host’s blood type.