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TIL NASCAR Legend Dale Earnhardt, along with many other NASCAR drivers, resisted use of the HANS device when it was introduced. The HANS was developed specifically to help prevent Basilar skull fractures common to car racing. Earnhardt later died after suffering this exact injury

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0X9L TIL in 1953, Ronald Maddison, a 20-year old Royal Air Force engineer died while acting as a guinea pig for sarin gas testing at Porton Down, England. Maddison was offered 15 shillings for the experiment, which he planned on using to buy an engagement ring for his girlfriend.
ANwRn TIL the Pony Express only existed for 18 months. The enterprise began in April of 1860 and ended in October of 1861. The subsidization and implementation of telegraph lines that began 10 weeks after the Pony Express was founded quickly made it irrelevant.
wv0J TIL Schrodinger didn’t intend the cat thing to be taken seriously. It was meant to illustrate how absurd he found the existing view of quantum mechanics.
awY0A TIL of Sombra, drug detection dog of the Colombian Nat'l Police. She's led to over 200 arrests & seizure of at least 9 tons of illicit drugs. Police upped security for Sombra after the cartel Los Urabeños (aka Gulf Clan) put a bounty on her head. Reports on price for her murder varied from $7K-$70K.
GYvMG TIL after the Boston Tea Party, many Americans switched to drinking coffee during the Revolutionary War because drinking tea had become unpatriotic.