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TIL that the turkey (bird) got its name out of a mistaken belief that it was an unrelated bird species, which was itself also mistakenly believed to come from Turkey.

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oBnlW TIL a drifter named Theodore Coneys, AKA the Denver Spider Man, broke into a man’s house and hid in the tiny attic, ended up murdering the man, then continued to hide in the attic for months during the murder investigation, while the murdered man’s wife still lived in the house.
wLYjJ TIL of Jeremiah Hamilton, 19th Century New York's notorious African-American, Wall Street millionaire. Blacklisted by the city's insurance firms and Public Stock Exchange, he went on to amass a fortune of $250 million in today's money and was known as the biggest single rival to the Vanderbilts.
e0wd4 TIL James Watt needed to convince skeptics to ditch their draft horses&buy his steam engine. To prove its superiority, he measured a horse walking in ­circles to turn a grindstone in a mill. He multiplied distance it walked by its ­~180 pounds of pulling force&came up with a new measure: horsepower
Npr8 TIL: Eddie Gein serves as a basis for Psycho, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Silence of the Lambs. Ed Gein had home furnishings made from human skin and bone, as well as a shoe box full of preserved female genitalia, Bowls made of Skulls and a full body suit made a flesh.
woGro TIL Judges' leniency in sentencing is influenced by timing and breaks. A study analyzing judges' decisions in criminal cases revealed that they were more likely to give favorable rulings early in the day and after breaks like lunch. Chance of a positive ruling decreased from 65% to 0 as time lapses.