› added 7 years ago

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TIL Catherine Corless helped unearth devastating history of nuns from the Bon Secours order in Tuam, Ireland disposed of at least 796 babies in their septic system because they were illegitimate. Most died of neglect.

DQ4br TIL Einstein used to make mistakes in his income returns, but tax authorities did not raise issues with him
oBa1L TIL a number of roman era wooden tablets were found in Hadrian's wall in 1973. They contain correspondence of soldiers stationed there, including a birthday invitation written by a woman and a letter from a soldier's mom, telling him that she sents new pairs of underpants and socks
N7ge TIL: George Lucas was sure Star Wars was going to flop, so he made a friendly bet with Stephen Spielberg: That if Close Encounters of the Third Kind made more money than SW, he would get 2.5% of the profit for all time, and vice versa. Spielberg still gets enormous, grudging checks today.
9YdZB TIL There are no pain receptors in the brain itself. Surgery can be done on the brain and technically the brain does not feel that pain. But the meninges (coverings around the brain), periosteum (coverings on the bones), and the scalp all have pain receptors and this is why you have migraines.
1akp4 TIL on visitng Kiev after WW2, John Steinbeck wrote: "If the United States were completely destroyed from New York to Kansas, we would have about the area of destruction Ukraine has. If six million people were killed, not counting soldiers,... you would have an idea of the casualties of Ukraine."