› added 6 years ago

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TIL in the 1940s, AT&T sued Harry Tuttle for inventing the Hush-A-Phone—a device that silenced phones from eavesdroppers. AT&T argued the “device hadn’t been installed by their company” and the FCC voted in AT&T’s favor, but Tuttle continued to fight the case in open court and eventually won.

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b6OkE TIL the 3rd-oldest permanent settlement in the United States is Santa Fe, New Mexico (1610) after Saint Augustine, Florida (1565) and Jamestown, Virginia (1607)
aMny TIL In the UK, accents change noticeably about every 25 miles (40km).
E1OWX TIL Due to intense metabolic demands of flight which in turn cause constant high levels of inflammation, bats have evolved ways to dampen their immune response towards the inflammation and this explains their ability to carry and transmit some of the world’s deadliest zoonotic viruses.
jNEeR TIL that Chevron and General Motors bought the patents for NiMH car batteries and used them to block electric vehicle development in the 90s and 00s
9O87 TIL that in 1977, a man attempted to commit suicide by jumping in front of the NYC subway. He survived but was injured, and then received $650,000 in a settlement because the subway operator had “not stopped fast enough”.