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TIL a Massachusetts principal did away with his school’s honors night in order to avoid hurting the feelings of kids with bad grades.

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6EmJw TIL Physics Laureate Gerard Muorou (2018, Short Pulse Lasers) accidentally revolutionized Ophthalmology when in 1993 a student, struck by the laser, miraculously suffered no damage as the pulse was amazingly short, lasting a femtosecond long. The laser than became the Standard-Bearer in Eye Surgery.
kOYZE TIL that one year the University of Chicago's annual scavenger hunt included the impossible task of building a working nuclear reactor, which one team did in their dorm room.
b6oKp TIL Sumerians counted with the 3 knuckles of the 4 upper fingers on one hand, then tracked groupings with all 5 fingers on the other hand. This is why seconds and minutes are still measured sexagesimally (base 60 = 3 x 4 x 5)
EgZpX TIL that chimney sweeping in Germany is protected by a "frankly medieval" guild system. The article also talks about the sweeps' involvement in the country's dark past, the legal requirement to let sweeps in and how freelance competition provoked legal backlash (at time of publication)
oD9A TIL There is Spacecraft enroute to Jupiter named JUNO in mythology God Jupiter drew a veil of clouds around himself to hide his mischief but his wife the goddes Juno was able to peer through the clouds and see Jupiter’s true nature, Juno to reach Jupiter in July to give us best images of Jupiter yet