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TIL of Harvard Observatory astronomer Henrietta Swan Leavitt; given the boring job of examining the luminosity of stars in thousands of photos, she discovered how to measure the distance between the Earth and faraway galaxies. At the time, she was not allowed to operate Harvard’s telescope.

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V8Ok TIL that Tiki Torches were invented by Ernest Raymond Beaumont-Gantt, a native Texan, not the Polynesians.
5VYjB TIL about the Diamond-Water Paradox in economics. Even though life cannot exist without water but can easily exist without diamonds, diamonds are, pound for pound, vastly more valuable than water
PYbgV TIL that a bill was almost passed that would have imported hippos into the United States to be farmed for meat, but was barely rejected on the concern that they might no taste good.
9WvD TIL Employees at Disneyland that play Mickey Mouse, have to go through a specialized autograph training session.
7rxJX TIL One cubic inch of muscle weighs slightly more than one cubic inch of fat.