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TIL famous mathematician Paul Erdos was once challenged to quit taking amphetamines for one month by a concerned friend. He succeeded, but complained “You’ve showed me I’m not an addict, but I didn’t get any work done…you’ve set mathematics back a month”.

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j6dVR TIL that during the Mexican-American War, General Gideon Pillow ordered the dirt excavated from a ditch to be piled on the wrong side.
oB7Z7 TIL psychologist László Polgár theorized that any child could become a genius in a chosen field with early training. As an experiment, he trained his daughters in chess from age 4. All three went on to become chess prodigies, and the youngest, Judit, is considered the best female player in history.
pKrp TIL Michael Crichton had an MD from Harvard, although he never obtained a license to practice medicine. He also believed patients too often shunned responsibility for their own health, relying on doctors as miracle workers rather than advisors.
QNnKe TIL that we have tiny ear crystals that can get dislodged and cause terrible vertigo called Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV).
N7noJ TIL that the first known cat with a name was called Nedjem meaning sweet' orpleasant' and dates from the reign of Thutmose III (1479-1425 BC)