› added 10 months ago

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TIL in 1951, Dr. W Grey Walter built a "tortoise" robot that can detect and move around obstacles and "see" by going towards or away from bright light, and return to its charging station when the battery charge is low.

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EaLw TIL that after visiting the Three Mile Island nuclear plant’s accident in 1979, Jimmy Carter—trained in nuclear power from the US Navy—told his cabinet that the incident was minor. The president did not say so in public, however, to avoid offending fellow Democrats who opposed nuclear power.
GYDvE TIL that McDonalds sued Irish fast food chain Supermac for trade mark infringement but failed and ended up losing their Big Mac trade mark as well because they were unable to prove that they had used the Big Mac trade mark in the EU.
XExoP TIL of Fordlandia, a suburban town built in the Amazon Rainforest by Henry Ford in 1928 with aims to control the rubber market.
4XMlJ TIL that to promote Windows 7's launch in 2009, Burger King in Japan released the Windows 7 Whopper, which had 7 patties totaling over 1,000 kcal and weighing 2.2 lb (1 kg). Originally planned to be sold for only 7 days, unexpected popularity led to its available period being extended to 16 days.
1vxD TIL that in May 1959, when Billie Holiday was taken to Metropolitan Hospital in New York with liver and heart disease, she was arrested for drug possession as she lay dying. Her hospital room was raided by police and she remained under police guard until her death in July.