› added 10 years ago

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TIL during the Cold War, students at Stuyvesant High School built a particle accelerator in their school’s basement. However, when they powered it on, it “tanked the electrical system for the building and surrounding area.” > $10,000 were spent on the machine, but no one knows what happened to it.

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D1YnY TIL The only member of Pink Floyd to comment on the rumor that Dark Side of the Moon was intended to be played over "The Wizard of Oz" was drummer Nick Mason, who said "It's absolute nonsense. It has nothing to do with 'The Wizard Of Oz.' It was all based on 'The Sound Of Music.'"
YZ9G TIL Korean man Okhwan Yoon left a profitable business to bicycle the world to support world peace. Over 9 years he has biked across 192 countries on six continents and has survived 6 car accidents, malaria, extreme temperatures, robbery, and kidnapping.
ANG8a TIL that the Northern cardinal can biologically suppress the West Nile virus upon infection.
j6VlR TIL In 1981, Ali Agca shot Pope John Paul II, four times in the abdomen during a parade. Despite being critically wounded, the Pope recovered and forgave Ali. He was pardoned in 2000 at the Pope's request. He later converted to Christianity in prison, leaving flowers on the Pope's tomb in 2014.
6xrl TIL: John Clem joined the US Army at 10 years old and at 12 shot and killed a Confederate Colonel who demanded his surrender earning his promotion to Seargent becoming the youngest NCO is US Army history