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TIL The plot of "Mostellaria", a comedy by early roman playright Plautus, follows a young man who goes wild after his father leaves on a business trip: he spends all of his money, trashes the house while throwing a party and invents a ghost story as a cover up when his father abruptly returns

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wgvE TIL that in 1924, when Standard Oil was researching tetraethyl lead as a gasoline additive, 32 of 49 workers had to be hospitalized due to lead poisoning, and 5 of them died. A federal panel made entirely of industry scientists later concluded that there “no danger” from tetraethyl lead.
4XkyX TIL that researchers identified two different types of mind-wandering: intentional mind-wandering, which tends to occur when people engage in easy tasks, and unintentional mind-wandering, which tends to occur when people engage in difficult tasks.
kQn5 TIL Ron Howard directed his first feature film for Roger Corman, famous for squeezing production budgets. Years later on Apollo 13 he cast Corman as a senator who complains about the high cost of moon missions.
JYrO4 TIL the Steel Drum was created in Trinidad and Tobago after the British banned African percussion music and traditional stick-fighting after the Canboulay Riots in 1890. Steel Drums later emerged made from frying pans, dustbin lids, and, of course, oil drums due to the country's oil resources.
Lk67Q TIL about radio host Joe Pyne. The former Marine and WWII veteran once had Frank Zappa on his show. Pyne quickly went on the attack with, “So I guess your long hair makes you a woman.” Zappa quickly fired back, “So I guess your wooden leg makes you a table”.