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TIL that, to determine once and for all whether waterboarding is torture, Christopher Hitchens had himself waterboarded. His conclusion? Yes. It’s torture.

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rRJAe TIL of Dawn Wells, the first woman to wear short shorts on television as she played Mary Ann on Gilligan’s Island
Me9Z0 TIL that Cormac McCarthy has typed every one of his novels on a mechanical typewriter (about 5 million words) and that at auction it was expected to sell for $15,000, it went for $254,000.
xWdg TIL: At a church gathering in 1870, a bishop said, “Man has invented everything that can be invented.” Someone challenged it, “I think man will learn to fly.” Bishop called it Blasphemy, “Flight is reserved for birds and angels”. That bishop was Milton Wright, father of Wilbur and Orville.
OD07 TIL that in 40 of the 50 states, coaches are the highest-paid public employee.
b9lep TIL John Priest survived the Asturias foundering (1907, damaged in collision), Olympic and Hawke collision (1911), Titanic sinking (1912, hit iceberg), Alcantara sinking (1916, torpedoed), Britannic sinking (1916, hit mine), and Donegal sinking (1917, torpedoed).