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154

TIL Anderson Cooper was in the CIA

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Eb5p TIL Herbert C. Brown’s “wife, bought him the book ‘The Hydrides of Boron and Silicon’ by Alfred Stock as a graduation gift. The book was chosen…because - at $2 - it was the cheapest in the University of Chicago bookstore.” In 1979, he won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work with Boron.
neXW7 TIL about Sister Rosetta Tharpe, "the Godmother of Rock and Roll". Tharpe was a pioneer in her guitar technique; among the first popular recording artists to use heavy distortion on her electric guitar and her technique had a profound influence on Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Keith Richards
w8AJ TIL that the oldest human being to ever live smoked for 96 years, drank alcohol frequently, and ate more than 2 pounds of chocolate a week.
e058g TIL that men are capable of sensing the earth's geomagnetic field, but only under blue light and only when they're hungry.
kJ4kd TIL our pee has been very useful throughout history, being used for tanning hides, cleaning clothes, making gunpowder, and brushing teeth to make them whiter.