› added 5 years ago

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TIL Pepperidge Farm (cookie brand) was founded by a woman named Margaret Rudkin. She got into baking due to her son's severe asthma and his allergies to most processed foods. After her success selling her baked goods, she sold the company to Campbell's and became their first female board member.

9Ydr7 TIL that In the year 1006, there was a supernova 7200 lightyears away from Earth, which was bright enough to cast shadows, and was visible during the daytime
e0Lok TIL that Walter Breuning stopped smoking cigars at age 103 because they became too expensive. At age 108, he began smoking cigars again after receiving a lot of gifts of cigars. He ultimately ended up living to age 114.5 and was the second-last verified surviving man born in the 1800s.
ANamn TIL that the "drink 8 glasses of water a day" is based on a 1945 recommendation that had no medical basis. The current recommendation is "drink when you are thirsty, unless you are outside on a hot day or are elderly- then drink a bit more."
grLG4 TIL about James Croll, a real life Good Will Hunting, who used his library access while working as a janitor at Andersonian University to teach himself physics and astronomy, and then published a revolutionary theory explaining the negative feedback loop that causes ice ages.
ep4P6 TIL of Feodor Protar, "The Saint of Beaver Island". A European actor who came to a small island in Lake Michigan to seek enlightenment. However, he ended up becoming a doctor to the locals who lacked one, despite having no formal medical training. When he died, they built a tomb and monument for him