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TIL William Kamkwamba, after being forced to quit school at 14 due to poverty, taught himself to build windmills out of trash, using books from a local library, transformed his village with electricity and became an international celebrity. Receiving a scholarship to Dartmouth and graduating in 2014

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wLrAJ TIL The Glitter Band, the former backing group of Gary Glitter, fought a lawsuit for the right to use the name. The band won, but two weeks later the Glitter name was ruined when Gary Glitter was revealed as a pedophile
VMRZk TIL in 2017 North Korea arrested and tortured an American tourist college student, Otto Warmbier, for stealing a poster. He died of his wounds 6 days after being released back to his family
9wykQ TIL The Wieliczka salt mine, excavated from the 13th century, produced table salt continuously until 1996, as one of the world's oldest operating salt mines. It is now a UNESCO world heritage site, with four chapels and numerous statues carved by miners and contemporary artists out of the rock salt.
kO0mB TIL that, according to Stan Lee and Lou Ferrigno, CBS thought the name Bruce Banner sounded "too gay-ish.” The protagonist’s name on The Incredible Hulk series was then changed to David Banner. Ferrigno thought it was "the most absurd, ridiculous thing [I’d] ever heard".
o7MY TIL, in 1962 under Centralia PA,one of the largest mines in the US caught fire. The fire formed sinkholes and vented lethal amounts of carbon monoxide forcing the evacuation of residents.Today the town remains abandoned while the fire continues to burn and is expected to do so for another 250 years!