› added 4 months ago

12

TIL about Robert Cocking, an amateur scientist whose 1837 death was caused by a poorly constructed parachute of his own design.

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4AjN TIL it is against the law for supermarkets, department stores, and other big box stores in Rhode Island, Maine, and Massachusetts to be open on Thanksgiving.
7r617 TIL that the average male gorilla is about 20 times stronger than the average adult man.
D1b0J TIL of Clayton "Peg Leg" Bates: born in South Carolina the black son of a sharecropper in 1907, he danced on the street for coins as a child, lost his leg at 12, taught himself to tap-dance afterwards, was competing in talent shows by 15, on Broadway by 20 and performing for royalty by 30.
N7Gb8 TIL: Condoms are NOT effective against HPV or Herpes
N7r1M TIL When his eight years as President of the United States ended on January 20, 1953, private citizen Harry Truman took the train home to Independence, Missouri, mingling with other passengers along the way. He had no secret service protection. His only income was an Army pension.