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TIL the first traffic signal, erected in London in 1868, was powered by gas. A gas leak caused it to explode a month later.

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N7y0E TIL over 15 to 20 networks rejected the Duffer Brothers' "Stranger Things" series, saying no one would be interested in a Sci-Fi horror that revolves around kid protagonists. One executive said they need to make it a kids show or have an adult character (Jim Hopper) be the main protagonist instead.
e0pR4 TIL that Necco Wafers, Sweethearts valentine's hearts, Clark Bars, Candy Buttons and Mary Janes are all made by the same company. Necco Wafers were created by America's first candy machine in 1847 and the formula has largely remained unchanged.
amdZ TIL a Chinese man was so convinced he was Jesus’s younger brother that he started a war called The Taiping Rebellion that lasted 15 years and killed at least 10 million people.
m15XY TIL there is a species of mushroom that infects and zombifies carpenter ants. The mushroom slowly takes control of the ant’s motor functions and leads them away from the colony to die in a place ideal for growing. Then the mushroom grows out of the ant’s head.
4Xe6g TIL in an experiment where subjects were told to allocate funds to other subjects, they would always favour members of their own group, even though they didn't know who the groupmembers were, had never met them, and had been arbitrarily put into their group.