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411

TIL that a patent on raising a sunken ship by pumping it full of buoyant balls was denied because of prior art in a 1949 Donald Duck comic

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Bgayr TIL Giovanni da Pian del Carpine was the first European to enter the court of the Great Khan. At 63 years old Carpine road 3000 miles in 106 days (including lent when he ate only salt, millet, and water) to appear before Khan Güyük. When Carpine returned he was made the Primate of Serbia.
d8Byj TIL a man was attacked for having a beard in 1830, then imprisoned for defending himself. He died in 1873, by which time beards were fashionable. His tombstone reads, "Persecuted for wearing the beard."
GYoN1 TIL of Alex Zanardi, a Formula One driver who lost both of his legs in a major crash in 2001. After, he designed and built his own custom prosthetics for racing. He started racing again in specialised touring cars. He also took up handcycling, and won medals in both the 2012 and 2016 Paralympics.
e0Ymb TIL that a UK TV license costs £157.50. You get a 50% discount to £78.75 if you’re blind and have a colour TV, but a 66% discount to £53 if you’re fully sighted with a black and white TV.
nelYG TIL that a contractor won a tender to rebuild part of the MacArthur Maze interchange in San Francisco with a bid of just over $876,000 - about a third of the projected cost. By completing the rebuild more than a month ahead of schedule, the contractor pocketed a $5 million bonus.