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TIL Paul Winchell was a comedian/ventriloquist who invented one of the earliest artificial hearts. Winchell also invented a flameless cigarette lighter, a garter belt without visible lines, and owned over 30 patents.

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OGLEX TIL that during Deng Xiaoping's visit to the United States, a Maoist American protested against him, calling him a "capitalist roader"
WXY4 TIL that in 2003 a Boeing 727 was stolen from an Angolan airport. It took off without clearance and flew out over the Atlantic with its lights and transponder switched off – and was never seen again
69oBW TIL gorillas were once considered cryptids and were described as human-like monsters until 1847 when it formalized as a new species.
lLn1 TIL a 12-year-old was awarded $3,000 for finding couple of bugs in Mozilla codebase
wLPK8 TIL of Herostratus, a 4th century BC Greek arsonist who burned down the Temple of Artemis, considered one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world. He said he had done it to immortalise his name. He was executed him and a law was passed forbidding anyone from saying his name, under penalty of death.