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TIL Rosemary Kennedy was developmentally disabled and lashed out regularly. She was given a lobotomy and asked to sing 'God Bless America'. They continued cutting away deeper into her brain until her singing became incoherent, then stopped.

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LyE9 TIL that “Sister” Amy Archer-Gilligan (1868-1962), who ran a nursing home, killed at least 5 people by poison (including her husband) but was possibly involved in more deaths as authorities found 48 deaths total at her nursing homes. Her story inspired the play and film Arsenic and Old Lace.
YZKG TIL In the song ‘The Sounds of Silence’ by Simon and Garfunkle, the lyric 'Hello darkness my old friend, I’ve come to talk with you again’ was created from Paul Simon often playing guitar in the bathroom with the lights off and faucet running.
wlaM TIL That the idea for the movie Human Centipede was from a joke on how child molesters should be punished
N7vM6 TIL that for over a century, locals in Meghalaya, India have been using trees to build root bridges, known locally as jing kieng jri. Taking 15 to 30 years to grow, they can span up to 250′ above gorges and rivers and support up to 35 people at a time.
R77N7 TIL that an English inventor named Maurice Ward (1933-2011) invented a thermal shielding material called Starlite which was able to withstand extreme heat (10000 degrees C), but never revealed its composition in fear of reverse engineering and losing control of rights to the material.