› added 4 months ago

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TIL that Victor Gruen who designed the first mall in the US, in later years hated what he created and even disowned it

Read more theguardian.com

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OGZ9g TIL Catherine Parr, the last wife of Henry VIII, was the first woman to publish an original work under her own name, in English, in England. After publishing her first book anonymously, she published Prayers or Meditations under her own name in 1545, during her time as Queen consort.
xVXWo TIL a dolphin at the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies was given a reward of fish for turning in trash that had fallen in the pool to the trainers, including dead seagulls. She began hiding fish under a rock to use to lure gulls, which she would catch to get even more fish.
E1AoV TIL of Charlie Walker, the first non-government individual to fly into space. After NASA deemed him unqualified and rejected his 1978 application for astronaut, he co-developed a space bound device which required him to accompany it. Walker flew into space three times with the device he co-patented.
166ld TIL about the Baghdad Batteries. In 1938 twelve jars with copper cylinders and iron rods were found in Iraq. The jars when combined with grape juice produce approximately 1 volt of electricity. It is hypothesized these were the first batteries ever created, over two thousand years ago.
VMmNp TIL that in 1772, a boy named Tarare was born with a peculiar deformity. He was able to eat anything without feeling full even after eating pounds of food. He died in 1792 from Tuberculosis, not obesity.