› added 7 months ago

30

TIL of the General Strike of 1842 when English workers went on strike, demanding their government act in their interest.

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4Xw6N TIL that during the Christmas of 1819, King George III - who by then was completely blind, increasingly deaf, had dementia, was in pain from rheumatism and suffering from another bout of insanity - spoke nonsense for 58 hours.
AN1Pw TIL Princess Märtha Louise of Norway (daughter of the current King) claims to be a clairvoyant, and is married to a "Neoshaman" accused of extensive scams; he even claimed her previous deceased husband contacted him from beyond the grave
wo0rP TIL inventor Yoshiro Nakamatsu holds 3,377 patents (e.g. the floppy disk). He finds inspiration by going on long underwater swims while holding his breath as long as he can "to starve the brain of oxygen." Then at "0.5 seconds before death" he jots down his idea on a waterproof notepad & surfaces.
LXV0 TIL X-rays are named such because Röntgen didn’t have a name for them, and temporarily used the mathematical designation “x” for something unknown.
JEmB TIL 550 motorcyclists participated in a ride to protest New York State’s mandatory helmet law. During the ride, One of the rider’s breaks failed and was sent over the handlebars and hit his head on the pavement, killing him. Medical experts said he would have survived if he had worn his helmet.