› added 12 years ago

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TIL that it took George Eastman, the inventor of Kodak film, four years to come up with a name for his product. His mother helped him, and had a few rules for what he wanted: something short, something impossible to mispronounce, something unique, and something that included his favorite letter, K.

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G6eg TIL that a year after Ferris Bueller, Matthew Broderick was driving in Ireland and crossed into oncoming traffic causing the death of a mother and her daughter. He was charged with careless driving and fined $175.
Qlx9 TIL a 19 year old Navy recruit was forced back into a pool after failing a training exercise, his instructors drowned him while other recruits were commanded to line up, turn their backs and sing the national anthem
AD7Dl TIL from Paul Stamets “6 ways mushrooms can save the world” TED talk, that mushrooms and mycelium are powerful antibiotic agents with many potential untapped applications in pharmaceuticals, pesticides, terraforming other planets, ecological healing/the reestablishment of biospheres, and much more.
5xgk TIL a ‘Nutella Tax’ was proposed by France partly because Palm oil’s production has led to displacing and killing endangered Orangutans
vPVbK TIL that the infamous (Sylvia Plath) suicide technique of sticking one's head in an oven was not a hot, violent affair. Rather, ovens used to run on "town gas" that had high carbon monoxide, and putting your head in an unlit oven was a rather peaceful way to go.