› added 7 months ago

25

TIL the steam engine, the wind turbine, and the vending machine were invented 2000 years ago by a Greek engineer named Hero

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l7NJK TIL Chicago reversed the flow of the Chicago River because it drained sewage into Lake Michigan where many got/get their drinking water from.
BrlDe TIL the Lewis & Clark expedition only suffered one casualty. Dysentery, snake bites, a dislocated shoulder, venereal disease and Lewis being shot in the buttocks after being mistaken for an elk all threatened the group's well-being, but the only man to die did so as a result of a burst appendix.
78nab TIL that the University of Oxford is older than the Aztec Empire, having opened its doors to students in 1096
MexKm TIL that Peter Jackson made Elijah Wood perform the final shoot for Frodo in Return Of The King many more times than actually necessary because he couldn't bear to say goodbye
WkwX TIL that in 2005 the Georgian President fired the entire traffic police force in an attempt to reduce corruption (xpost; original post did not gain visibility).