› added 7 months ago

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TIL an Erector set was used to build the precursor to the modern artificial heart

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E1Ex0 TIL about Sholam Weiss, a man who led a scheme that defrauded a life insurance company out of $450 million. For his crimes he was sentenced to 845 years in US federal prison, later reduced to 835 years, and his projected release date is November 23, 2754.
VBOwp TIL Diatomaceous earth is made from the fossilized remains of tiny, aquatic organisms called diatoms. It is used in pest control to kill insects like bedbugs by absorbing the oils and fats from the insect's exoskeleton
wa4Y TIL that all of the notebooks in John Doe’s possession from the film ‘Se7en’ were actually filled to the brim with dark, nonsensical musings. Several members of the art department spent several weeks and $15,000 on them, and their actual contents were only featured during the opening credits.
x4dD TIL a 4chan prank resulted in VH1’s Save the Music program donating $10,000 to buy musical instruments for Boston’s Horace Mann School for the Deaf.
wAgW TIL of an indoor vegetable factory in Japan that produces up to 10,000 heads of lettuce per day and uses just 1% of the amount of water needed for outdoor fields