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TIL that Henry Bessemer, the engineer largely credited with the invention of modern steel, also invented or contributed to embossed postage stamps, long sheets of plate glass, military weapons, and a method for extracting sugar from sugar cane. He eventually earned nearly 130 patents

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Ypp0r TIL of the death of MI6 spy Gareth Williams. Who was found dead, locked inside a bag in the bath. Police ruled the cause of death was suicide despite no fingerprints or DNA being found. A former KGB agent has since said he was killed by Russian hitmen after refusing to become a double agent.
Me7Q0 TIL the American Soccer League made soccer fairly popular in the U.S. in the 1920's. However, FIFA and the United States Football Association forced the ASL to fold in 1933, creating the image of soccer being a foreign and unwelcoming sport to americans.
K47a TIL that, in 1504, Christopher Columbus scientifically predicted that a lunar eclipse would occur, and used that knowledge to scare the natives into giving him food by making them believe that he had magically made the moon disappear.
XVQX TIL that scientists with the University of Rochester have figured out how to manipulate light into moving at what they think to be negative speeds.
7rPdO TIL that Devin Gaines earned 5 bachelor degrees with honors simultaneously at the University of Connecticut, averaging 24 credits a semester and 3 hours of sleep a night. He drowned in 2007 because he didn't know how to swim.