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TIL of Catherine Yasinchuk, a Ukrainian woman who was wrongly institutionalized for 48 years in a Philadelphia asylum because she did not speak English and no one understood her. She’d come to the USA alone at the age of 15, and suffered a nervous breakdown after losing her husband and baby.

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9wblD TIL the Reagans would consult with a psychic/astrologist from 1981 to the end of Reagan's time in office. Donald Regan wrote in his memoir: "Virtually every major move and decision the Reagans made during my time as White House Chief of Staff was cleared in advance with a woman in San Francisco."
N7XRP TIL that in 1980, nuclear physicist Glenn Seaborg transmuted several thousand atoms of bismuth into gold at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory. Seaborg's technique would have been far too expensive to enable routine manufacturing of gold, but his work was close to the mythical Philosopher's Stone.
womDJ TIL that as the USS Franklin was returning to Pearl Harbor for repairs after surviving multiple kamikaze hits, the captain refused to allow the harbor pilot to dock the aircraft carrier, wanting to do it himself. He proceeded to immediately crash the ship into the dock.
OGOY1 TIL when fins are removed from Great White Sharks or Whale Sharks and are thrown back into water still alive, they die because they suffocate. If they don't swim they stop receiving oxygen, since no water is being pushed through their gills (they can't pump water through their gills themselves).
p8YJp TIL that prior to the 1970's the 2nd Amendment wasn't interpreted as an individual's right to bear arms, and that it has an entirely unnecessary comma.