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TIL the phrase "Turn a blind eye" (willfully ignore information) originated from Admiral Lord Nelson in 1801, who used his injured eye to see through his telescope during the Battle of Copenhagen when he wished to ignore his commander's signals, which resulted in their victory.

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wLkNo TIL the Wright brothers may not have done what they did if not for a hockey accident that sent Wilbur Wright into a depression, causing him to cancel his plans of going to Yale, and eventually open the bicycle shop with his brother.
1aOlV TIL young Abraham Lincoln considered joining the Donner Party to California. The group is notorious for mass cannibalism after becoming trapped in the Sierra Nevada Mountains for 5 months during the winter. He eventually declined due to a budding political career, a toddler and pregnant wife.
VMVKm TIL German biologist Stefan Lanka, who believed that measles was a "psychosomatic illness", announced that he would pay 100,000 Euros to anyone who could prove that measles was a virus. German doctor David Barden proved him wrong and Lanka was ordered by the court to pay the money as promised.
9w8bM TIL The US Food & Drug Administration has a limit on the number of mites on cheese. The FDA allows 6 mites per cubic inch of cheese because some people are allergic to eating arachnids
e0Aeg TIL although people live longer on average, the maximum age of humans hasn't increased in 30 years. This had led scientists to conclude that no matter how much medicine advances, the natural limit to human life span will remain around 115.