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TIL In 1878, a spark ignited airborne flour dust within the Minneapolis Washburn A Mill creating an explosion that killed 18 workers. The ensuing fire killed four people and destroyed five other mills. The explosion made national news and led to reforms in the milling industry.

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j66Wn TIL that Pres. George HW Bush vomited on the lap of Japanese PM Kiichi Miyazawa during a 1992 state banquet. The incident caused a wave of late night TV jokes & ridicule, even coining Busshu-suru meaning "to do the Bush thing or bushing it". It was also spoofed in the film "Hot Shots! Part Deux."
b6Ml7 TIL the 1965 Spiegelman's Monster experiment demonstrated genetic replication and evolution in real-time at the molecular level, showing how natural selection could drive the emergence of more efficient genetic replication, even in an artificial setting.
WkPJ4 TIL that for three months a man named Kasongo Ilunga was the Democratic Republic of the Congo's Minister of Trade and vice president of the UNAFEC Party despite, apparently, not actually existing.
1yOD TIL that classic Western one-on-one quick-draw duels were inspired by one particular shootout between Wild Bill Hickok and David Tutt. Wild Bill won and became a sensation in the media, but was also charged with murder. He later got off by pleading self-defense.
Mex9K TIL the helicopter that crashed during the Bin Laden raid did so because in the training exercises, they used a chain fence, rather than a solid wall like what surrounded the real compound. The solid wall meant heat got trapped and rose up, causing the helicopter to have different flight properties.