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TIL Bertie the Brain was the first video game developed in August 25, 1950.

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Bg0Er TIL thousands of "low head dams" (aka "killer dams" or "drowning machines") were built on US waterways in 1800s, are nearly invisible from upstream, have killed hundreds of people, often serve no modern purpose, and for all that, are largely unregulated
pY7XZ TIL Betelgeuse is a red supergiant star in Orion that is one of the largest and most luminous stars in our galaxy. It exhibits variations in brightness due to surface pulsations and its size is rapidly decreasing, which has led to speculation that it may soon undergo a supernova explosion.
emRD TIL that “yellow journalism” within the newspaper company of William Randolph Hearst is responsible for misleading information regarding Marijuana, resulting in it being made illegal to protect his interests in the timber industry.
vPxGD TIL the ridges on the back of a windshield ice scraper are for scoring the ice to get it off easier
9YnpG TIL that Henry Starr claimed to hold the record for most bank robberies in America. He wrote & starred in a movie about his robberies, "A Debtor to the Law," in 1919. Two years later he was shot & killed robbing a bank in Arkansas.