› added 9 years ago

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TIL North Korean exists because Taiwan exists: China was prevented by the US 7th Fleet from invading Taiwan in June 1950, so Mao Zedong announced China would enter the Korean war with the invasion force originally intended for Taiwan, and by October this force saved North Korea from imminent defeat

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VB5ZD TIL: William Halsted was a famous surgeon and a founder of Johns Hopkins, but was addicted to cocaine and used it during surgeries. He would inject himself with cocaine to test it before using it on patients. Eventually his writings for the NY Medical Journal became incoherent.
epL6 TIL there is a substance called frozen smoke, it is the world’s lowest density solid, made of 96% air. It supports up to 4,000 times its own weight and can withstand a direct blast from two pounds of dynamite.
nWBy7 TIL that an Irish American by the name of Malcolm Loughead was a renowned engineer who invented the hydraulic brakes that all cars use today. You might already know his company because he got so sick of people mispronouncing his last name that he changed it’s spelling to the more phonetic “Lockheed”
0vAL TIL Finnur Magnusson identified cracks in a rock as Runes and stated that they made up an epic poem about Harald Wartooth, for victory against the Swedish king Sigurd Ring at the Battle of Brávellir. Turns out he was 100% wrong, they were just naturally formed cracks and he looked quite the fool.
X0Anr TIL that a man planned to kill Jodie Foster but changed his mind after seeing her in a stage play