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TIL in an interview printed in the New York Times in 1969, Vladimir Nabokov said, "I often think there should exist a special typographical sign for a smile -- some sort of concave mark, a supine round bracket."

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WkGM9 TIL Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin through his hobby of microbial art. Leaving a Petri dish painting of bacteria unattended for two weeks it was being killed by Penicillium fungus. Thus the antibiotic properties were studied leading to Penicillin.
BrwlW TIL that term "laser" originated as an acronym for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation".
0wnRM TIL Joaquin Phoenix grew up in a cult involved with pedophilia and his parents traveled to Venezuela to recruit followers (not knowing about the pedophilia) - The Children of God
LQXGv TIL that the inspiration for Billy Elliot was an opera singer, Thomas Allen, not a dancer
O6pR TIL Nazi soldiers burned civilians alive in the town of Oradour-sur-Glane. Charles de Gaulle ordered that the ruins are not removed, and the empty town still exists as it was in June 1944.